mmmmmm' 


J  It 


•  >  O     :   :  ■■  ^    ;  * 


H^iiU  l*.r 


J '  1  - ',  j  K ; 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrdsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/ancientgreeceskeOOcottrich 


GREAT  NATIONS 

ANCIENT    GREECE 


GREAT    NATIONS 

In  active  prej>aration 

ROME  By  H.  L.  HaveU,  B.A. 

FRANCE       By  Professor  W.  H.  Hudson 

GERMANY  By  T.  W.  RoUeston 

IRELAND  By  Eleanor  HuU  and 

Professor  Stanley  Lane- Poole 

SCOTLAND         By  R.  L.  Mackie,  M.A, 

MEDIEVAL  ITALY  By  H.  B. 

Cotterill,  M.A. 


\ 


I     White  Attic  Lekythus 
2.    Red-figured  Lekythus 


ANCIENT  GREECE 

A  SKETCH  OF  ITS  ART  LITERATURE  &  PHILO 
SOPHY  VIEWED  IN  CONNEXION  WITH  ITS 
EXTERNAL  HISTORY  FROM  EARLIEST  TIMES 
TO  THE   AGE    OF  ALEXANDER   THE   GREAT 

BY    H.    B.    COTTERILL    M.A. 

Translator   of  the  "  Odyssey  "  Editor  of  "  Selections  from  the 

Inferno"  Goethe's  "Iphigenie"  Milton's  "Areopagitica"  Virgil's 

"  Aeneid  "  I  and  VI  etc. 


NEW  YORK 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


"^W 


«>' 


-«? 


D^ 


ni 


c*" 


PRINTED  AT 

THE    BALLANTYNE    PRESS 

LONDON 

ENGLAND 


PREFACE 

WHEN  the  attempt  is  made  in  a  book  ot  this  size  to 
give  a  continuous  account  of  the  external  history 
of  Greece,  and  into  this  framework  to  fit  a 
number  of  sketches  descriptive  of  its  art,  Hterature,  and 
philosophy,  as  well  as  other  matters,  it  is  of  course  necessary 
to  omit  many  details  and  to  rely  on  whatever  skill  one  may 
happen  to  possess  in  selection  and  combination.  In  regard  to 
antiquities  and  literature,  I  have  drawn  attention  chiefly  to 
what  is  extant  and  of  general  interest,  and  have  trusted 
to  description,  illustration,  and  quotation  rather  than  to  dis- 
quisition and  criticism.  The  Sections  appended  to  each  chapter 
treat  subjects  that  are  closely  connected  with  the  period 
covered  by  the  chapter.  Any  of  these  Sections  can  be  omitted 
without  seriously  interrupting  continuity.  Temples,  Dress, 
Coins,  and  Vases  have  been  relegated  to  Notes  at  the  end  of 
the  volume,  seeing  that  they  are  not  specially  connected  with 
any  one  period. 

The  letters  B.C.  (but  not  a.d.)  have  been  generally  omitted, 
as  unnecessary  in  a  book  on  Ancient  Greece. 

To  name  in  full  all  the  books  that  one  has  to  use  in  such  work 
is  unnecessary,  but,  since  space  did  not  always  allow  of  exact 
reference  on  occasions  when  I  annexed  a  fact  or  a  sentiment, 
it  is  right  that  I  should  here  acknowledge  my  obligations  to 
the  following  modern  writers  :  Baikie,  Berard,  Bergk,  Ber- 
noulli, Buchholz,  Burrows,  Bury,  Busolt,  Butcher,  Archer 
Butler,  Chamberlain  (Grundlagen) ,  Christ,  Dawkins,  Deussen, 
Diehl,  Donaldson,  Dorpfeld,  Dussaud,  Sir  A.  J.  Evans,  Frazer 
(Pausanias),  Furtwangler,  E.  Gardner,  P.  Gardner,  Gomperz, 
Grote,    Hall,    Miss   Harrison,    Head,    Hill,    Hogarth,    Holm, 

V 


PREFACE 

Hommel  {Chronology),  A.  I/ang,  W.  I^eaf,  I/)wy,  Mahaffy, 
Meltzer,  Mover,  Mosso,  A.  S.  Murray,  G.  Murray,  F.  A. 
Paley,  Petrie,  Sir  H.  Rawlinson,  Canon  Rawlinson,  Ridge- 
way,  Ritter  and  Preller,  Schlegel,  Schliemann,  Schuchliardt, 
A.  H.  Smith,  G.  Smith,  W.  Smith,  Tsountas,  H.  B.  Walters, 
Wilamowitz,  Wood  (Ephesus),  Zeller,  Zimmermann. 

Also,  in  regard  to  the  illustrations,  my  thanks  are  due  to 
Mr.  Hasluck,  of  the  British  School  in  Athens,  and  (especially 
in  regard  to  vases)  to  Professor  H.  Thiersch,  of  Freiburg,  as 
well  as  to  many  others  whose  names  are  mentioned  in  the  I^ist. 
Some  of  the  illustrations  supplied  by  F.  Bruckmann  and  Co. 
are  from  their  fine  series  of  Greek  and  Roman  Portraits  ;  others 
are  from  Bernoulli's  Griechische  Ikonographie.  The  autotypes 
of  coins  in  Plates  I- VI  are  reproductions  which  I  was  permitted 
by  the  courtesy  of  the  Director  of  the  British  Museum  to  make 
from  Mr.  Head's  official  Guide  to  the  Coins  of  the  Ancients. 

In  quoting  Herodotus  I  have,  with  the  permission  of  Mr. 
John  Murray,  frequently  made  use  of  Canon  Rawlinson's 
version,  and  in  translating  Thucydides  I  sometimes  accepted 
the  guidance  of  Dale.  For  the  compilation  of  the  index  I  am 
indebted  to  Mr.  C.  C.  Wood. 

H.  B.  C, 

Freiburg  im  Breisgau, 
March  191 3 


VI 


CONTENTS 


iAPTl  R  PAGE 

I.  The    Aegaean    Civii^ization   :    The     Achaean 

Supremacy  i 

Sections  :  A.  Language  and  Writing.  B.  The  Old 
Religion.  C.  The  '  Homeric  Age  '  and  Homer.  D.  Chrono- 
logy of  Aegaean  and  other  Contemporary  Civilizations. 

II.  The  Dark  Age  '  74 

Sections  ;  A.  '  Dipylon  '  Antiquities.  B.  Hesiod 
C.  The  Phoenicians  and  some  other^Nations  during  the 
Dark  Age. 

III.  From  the  First  OIvYmpiad  to  Peisistratus  113 

Sections  :  A.  Egypt  and  Cyrene.  B.  I,ydia  :  Ivist  of 
Eastern  Kings.     C.  The  Games.     D.  The  Poets. 

IV.  The   Age   of   Peisistratus   and   the    Rise   of 

Persia  172 

Sections  :  A.  Poets  and  Philosophers.  B.  Early  Greek 
Sculpture  and  Architecture. 


V.  The  Persian  Invasions  234 

I 


Sections  :    A.    The  Greeks  and  Carthaginians  in  Sicily. 
B.  Pindar. 


VI.  The  Rise  of  the  Athenian  Empire  283 

Sections:  A.  Architecture  and  Sculpture.    B.  Aeschylus: 
Herodotus  :  Philosophers  of  the  Period. 


V 


VII.  The  PE1.OPONNESIAN  War  326     W 

Sections  :  A.  Thucydides.  B.  Sophocles  :  Euripides  : 
Aristophanes.  C.  Democritus  :  The  Sophists  :  Socrates. 
D.  Sculpture. 

vii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


VIII.  The  Spartan  and  the  Theban  Supremacy  387 

Sections  :  A.  Xenophon.  B.  Sicily  and  the  Cartha- 
ginians. C.  Plato.  D.  Sculpture,  Architecture,  and 
Painting  till  the  Accession  of  Alexander. 

IX.  The  Rise  of  Macedonia  :  Phiup  and  Alexander  422 

Sections  :  A,  Isocrates  :  Aeschines  :  Demosthenes  : 
I^ater  Philosophers.     B.  Lysippus  :  Hellenistic  Sculpture. 


Note  A.  Greek  Tempi^es  449 

Note  B.  Dress  458 

Note  C.  Coins  462 

Note  D.  Pottery  and  Vase-Painting  471 

I^isT  OF  Important  Dates  477 

Dates  of  Foundation  of  the  Kari,y  Greek  Coi^onies      479 

IvisT  OF  THE  Persian  Kings  480 

lyisT  OF  THE  Chief  Greek  Writers,  Phii^osophers. 

and  scui^ptors  48 1 

Index  483 


viu 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

In  the  following  list  the  names  of  those  to  whom  the  author  is  indebted  for 
permission  to  use  copyright  photographs,  &c.,  are  given  in  italic  below  the 
title  of  the  subject. 

MAPS 

PAGB 

Greece  and  the  Aegaean  Sea  i 

Sicily  and  Magna  Graecia  119 

Athens  and  the  Peiraeus  299 

The  Route  of  the  Ten  Thousand  390 


COLOURED    PLATES 

PLATE 

I.  Two  lyEKYTHi  Frontispiece 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co.  The  larger,  a  white  Attic  lekythus 
(funeral  oil-vase)  with  polychrome  painting  of  early, 
severe  style  {c.  460).  The  smaller,  a  red-figured  lekythus 
of  the  earHer  and  still  somewhat  restrained  '  beautiful 
style,'  which  afterwards  became  fanciful  and  fantastic  ; 
date  c.  450.     In  British  Museum. 

II.   lyATE-MYCENAEAN  VASES    (c.    I200)  8 

Photo  Mansell  &•  Co.  One  has  the  polypus  decoration  ; 
the  other  is  an  example  of  the  characteristic  Mycenaean 
false-necked  amphora  (' Biigel-kanne ').  In  the  latter 
vessel  the  neck,  to  which  the  handles  are  attached,  has 
no  aperture.  The  spout  is  set  in  the  shoulder  of  the  vessel, 
and  in  the  picture  it  stands  in  front  of  the  '  false  neck  ' 
and  hides  it.     In  British  Museum. 

III.  An  Attic  Hydria  of  the  Middi^e  Bi,ack-figured 

Period  (c.  550)  218 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co.  Found  at  Vulci.  Maidens  fetching 
water  from  a  fountain.  Similar  vases  are  inscribed  with 
the  names  of  the  fountains  Kallikrene  or  KaUirrhoe.  This 
vase  has  the  names  of  some  of  the  maidens  with  the 
adjective  /caX?)  ('  beautiful ')  appended,  as  frequently 
occurs  in  vase-paintings.  On  the  lower  part  of  the  vase 
is  depicted  Heracles  strangling  the  Nemean  lion.  In 
British  Museum. 

iz 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PACK 

IV.   A    lyATK    B1.ACK-FIGURED    HyDRIA    (c.    510)     FROM 

Vui,ci  250 

Photo  Mans  ell  6-  Co.  Harnessing  chariot-horses.  The 
driver  in  long  white  robe  (c/.  Fig.  74).  Below,  a  boar- 
hunt.     In  British  Museum. 

V.  An  APUI.IAN  FuNERAi,  Amphora    with    Voi^ute 

Handi.es  470 

Photo  Mansell  6-  Co.  Date  c.  300.  Scenes  from  the  '  Sack 
of  Troy '  {Iliou  Persis) .  Above,  the  death  of  Priam  and 
of  Hecuba;  below,  Ajax  and  Cassandra.  In  British 
Museum. 

COINS 

462 

463 
464 

465 
466 
467 
VII.  Portrait  Coins  468 

Plates  I-  VI  consist  of  reproductions  from  the  British  Museum  '  Guide  to  the  Coins 
of  the  Ancients.'     Plate  VII  is  from  photographs  by  F.  Bruckmann. 

GENERAL  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG. 

1.  Wai.1,  of  the  Sixth  City  of  Troy  6 

From  the  Rev.  James  Baikie's  '  Sea  Kings  of  Crete '  {Messrs. 
A.  &^  C.  Black).  Since  this  photo  was  taken  the  site 
has  been  further  excavated.  See,  for  instance.  Dr. 
W.  Leaf's  new  book  on  Troy.  There  can  be  very 
little  doubt  that  these  are  the  actual  walls  from  a  tower 
of  which  Andromache  (if  Homer's  story  is  true)  saw 
Hector  being  dragged  round  the  city  behind  the  chariot 
of  Achilles  (//.  xxii.  460  sq.). 

2.  The  lyiON  Gate,  Mycenae  io 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co. 

3.  Amenhotep  III  10 

Photo  Mansell  &>  Co.     British  Museum. 
X 


I.  Coins 

OF  C.   700-500 

11. 

c.   600-500 

III. 

c.  480-400 

IV. 

c.   480-430 

V. 

c.   400-350 

VI. 

c.   380-300 

LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PAGE 

4.  Men  worshipping  a  Snake  10 

From  Miss  J.  E.  Harrison's  '  Prolegomena '  [Cambridge 
University  Press). 

5.  Siege  Scene  12 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co.  On  fragment  of  silver  vase.  From  the 
copy  in  the  British  Museum. 

6.  Cretan  Statue  12 

Photo  Maraghiannis.     From  Eleutherma. 

7.  From  a  Mycenaean  G01.D  Ring  :     Women  and 

Sacred  Tree  14 

From  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  prihelUniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).  Found  south  of  Mycenaean  acropolis.  Sun  and 
moon  and  Milky  Way  (or  ocean  stream  ?) ;  sky-deity  with 
figure-of-eight  shield  and  lance ;  double  axe ;  child 
picking  the  date-like  (or  grape-like  ?)  fruit  of  the  sacred 
tree  ;  row  of  animals'  heads  (?). 

8.  The  '  Warrior  Vase  '  14 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co.  The  painted  fragment  was 
found  outside  acropolis  at  Mycenae.  Note  corslet,  short 
fringed  chiton,  leggings  and  footgear,  metal  (?)  rings 
at  knee  and  wrist,  gourd  or  bag  for  water  or  food  (?) 
hanging  on  spear,  and  the  woman  saying  farewell. 

9.  G01.DEN  Mask  14 

Photo  Rhomaides.  The  mask  covered  the  face  of  one  of 
the  Mycenaean  princes  buried  on  the  acropolis. 

10  y  II.  Mycenaean  Daggers  15,  16 

From  Professor  Bury  's  '  History  of  Greece '  {Macmillan  & 
Co.  Ltd.). 

12.  Goi^DEN  Discs  and  Shrine  16 

Photo  Rhomaides.  From  the  third  tomb  on  the  Mycenae 
acropolis.  Of  thin  gold.  Rather  less  than  natural  size. 
The  discs  probably  dress  ornaments. 

13.  GoivDEN  Cups  from  Vaphio  16 

Photo  Rhomaides. 

14.  AcROPOus,  Mycenae  18 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens. 

15.  Excavations  of  Pai^ace,  Cnossus  18 

Photo  Maraghiannis. 

xi 


LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIC.  PAGE 

i6.  The  Cup-bkarbr,  Cnossus  20 

Copyright.     By  permission  of  Mr.  John  Murray. 

17.  Acrobats  and  Bi^ands  21 

Front  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  prShelUniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).  Cretan  gems.  Instead  of  the  usual  bull  we  find 
here  large  antelopes  like  African  elands. 

18.  '  Throne  of  Minos  '  22 

Photo  Maraghiannis.  In  the  '  Council  Chamber  '  of  the 
Cnossus  Palace.  Fresco  of  "  griffin  with  peacock-plumes 
in  a  flowery  landscape." 

19.  MiNOAN  Game-board  22 

Photo  Maraghiannis.     Found  in  Cnossus  Palace. 

20.  Cretan  Jars  for  Oii.  or  Corn  38 

Photo  Maraghiannis.  Found  in  store-houses  of  Cnossus 
Palace.     Five  feet  high. 

21.  CivAY  Disc  of  Phaestus  38 

Photo  Maraghiannis. 

22.  Tabi^ets  with  Cretan  I^inear  Script  39 

From  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  prehelUniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).     Early  linear  writing  {c.  1600  ?). 

23.  Inscription  on  Tataia's  Fi.ask  42 

Copied  by   the   author   from  Mr.   H.   B.    Walters'    book  on 
Vases. 

24.  '  Harvester  Vase  '  48 

Photo  Maraghiannis.  A  small  vessel  of  black  soapstone, 
probably  once  covered  with  gold-leaf.  Early  Minoan 
work.     Foimd  at  Hagia  Triada,  Crete. 

25.  Cretan  Sarcophagus  48 

Photo  Maraghiannis.  Later  Minoan.  Plastered  limestone, 
painted.  Funeral  ceremony.  Double  axes.  Musicians, 
one  with  seven-stringed  lute. 

26.  Griffins  and  PiU/Ar  50 

From  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  prihelUniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).     Cretan  gem. 

27.  Earth-Goddess  and  I^ions  50 

From  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  prihelUniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).  Imprint  of  seal  found  in  Cnossus  Palace.  The 
Earth-Mother  on  mountain  (Ida  ?)  with  lions  ;  shrine 
and  worshipper  (or  her  son,  Zeus  Cretagenes  ?). 

xii 


LIST  OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


28.  RiTUAi.  Danck  and  Uprooting  of  Sacred  Tree        51 

From  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  pr&helUniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).  Gold  ring.  The  uprooting  of  the  sacred  tree  was 
perhaps  a  funeral  ceremony. 

29.  Genii  watering  Sacred  Tree  51 

From  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  prShelUniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).     Gem  found  at  Vaphio. 

30.  The  '  lyADY  OF  Wii,D  Creatures  '  52 

From  Miss  J.  E.  Harrison's  '  Prolegomena'  {Cambridge  Uni- 
versity Press).  Painting  on  a  Boeotian  amphora  at 
Athens. 

31.  Cretan  Seai,s  53 

From  Dussaud's  '  Civilisations  prShellSniques '  {Geuthner, 
Paris).  Perhaps  represent  transformations  in  masked 
ritual  dance,  or  perhaps  worn  as  charms  against  evil 
spirits. 

32.  The  Return  of  the  Barth-Maiden  56 

From  Miss  J.  E.  Harrison's  '  Prolegomena '  {Cambridge  Uni- 
versity Press).  Vase  at  Oxford.  I^ike  the  Anodos  of  Kore, 
but  here  the  maiden  is  Pandora  (generally  the  Greek 
Eve,  but  here  probably  the  '  All-giver,'  Earth-goddess). 
Zeus,  Hermes,  and  Epimetheus  welcome  her  return. 
Compare  the  northern  myth  of  Holda,  the  goddess  of 
spring. 

33.  MiNOAN,  Mycenaean,  and  Trojan  Ware  58 

Photo  Maraghiannis. 

Top  left  jug  and  two  small  cups  are  of  the  exceedingly  fine 

Kamares  ware  ;    found  in  Kamares  cave.   Mount  Ida, 

Crete.     Date  c.  2000. 
Two  other  jugs  on  left,  one  with  sunflower  and  papyrus  (?), 

the    other   with   octopus,    are   later   Minoan,    c.    1500- 

1400.     The  former  is  in  what  is  called  '  Cnossus  Palace 

style.' 
Top  right-hand  jug,   probably  from  an  island  tomb  ;   date 

c.    2500.     Black    with   incised    lines    filled    with    white 

substance. 
Two-necked  jug  of  '  Hissarlik  '  (Trojan)  type.     Date  c.  1800, 
I^owest  to  right  :    Mycenaean  ware,  but  found  in  Cyprus. 

Date  c.  1300. 

34.  D1PY1.0N  Vase  98 

Photo  Mansell  &>  Co.  Two  sides  of  same  vase.  Date 
about  850  or  earlier.     British  Museum. 

xiii 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


35.  DIPYI.ON,     PHAI.ERON,      SamIAN,      AND      CORINTHIAN 

Ware,  c.  800-600  100 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co. 

Upper  row,  three  Dipylon  vessels  ;  ancient  animal  decoration 
(bird,  two  horses  at  manger)  combined  with  the  revived 
geometric  and  maeander  style.  See  Note  D.  Date 
c.  800. 

Lowest  to  left :  '  Phaleron  ware.'  About  fifty  of  such  one- 
handled  jugs  discovered.  Named  after  first,  found  on 
the  road  to  Phaleron.  Very  different  from  preceding, 
and  far  more  artistic.     Oriental  influence  ?     Date  c.  700. 

Samian  two-handled  jug,  found  in  the  cemetery  Fikellura, 
Rhodes.     Date  c.  600. 

Old  Corinthian  ;  easily  recognized  by  rather  heavy  but  finely 
balanced  shape,  colours  (rich  browns  and  yellows)  and 
style  of  animals,  with  spaces  filled  with  flowers,  &c. 
Corinth  was  anciently  a  great  emporium,  especially  for 
trade  with  the  far  West.  Date,  about  Periander's  age, 
c.  600. 

36.  Foundations  op  Apoi,i.o's  Tkmpi^e,  West  Dei^phi        104 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.     See  under  Fig.  49  in  this  list. 

37.  Archaic  Statue  io6 

From  Gardner's  '  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture  '  {Macmillan 
&  Co.  Ltd.).  One  of  the  so-called  '  Tanten '  ('  Aunts') 
excavated  on  the  Athenian  Acropolis. 

38.  ASSARHADDON       WITH       CaPTIVE       EGYPTIAN       AND 

AETHIOPIAN  112 

Photo  Graphische  Gesellschaft. 

39.  The  '  Francois  Vase  '  ii6 

Photo  Alinari.  In  the  Etruscan  Museimi,  Florence.  Perhaps 
the  oldest  inscribed  Greek  vase.  Found  by  M.  Fran9ois 
at  Chiusi  (Clusium,  the  city  of  Lars  Porsena,  where 
great  numbers  of  tombs,  &c.,  have  been  discovered). 
It  was  in  about  fifty  fragments,  but  was  nearly  complete. 
In  1900,  however,  an  insane  employ  &  of  the  museum 
overthrew  it,  and  while  it  lay  shattered  on  the  floor 
numerous  shards  were  stolen,  so  that  many  important 
portions  (as  seen  in  the  picture)  are  wanting.  For 
questions  of  ancient  Greek  dress,  weapons,  chariots, 
vases,  &c.,  it  is  invaluable.  See  Index  and  Note  B. 
Many  of  the  figures  in  the  numerous  scenes  are  named, 
and  we  learn  the  names  of  the  painter  and  maker  by 
the  words  KXir/as  /z*  eypayjfcv  'Epyori/xos-  /x'  iirolrjaev.  Date 
perhaps  about  650.  Greek  work  imported  into 
Etruria. 

40.  lyACiNiAN  Cape  and  Column  120 

From  '  Aus  dem  klass.  Siiden,'  by  permission  of  Herr  Ch. 
Coleman,  Liibeck. 

xiy 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PACm 

41.  Poseidon's  TempIvE,  Paestum  120 

Photo  Brogi.  To  left  a  part  of  the  '  Basilica.'  Note  the 
greater  bulge  {entasis)  of  the  columns.     See  Note  A. 

42.  Apoi.i.o's  Tempi^e,  Corinth  130 

Photo  Simirioitis,  Athens.     See  Note  A. 

43.  Site  of  Corinth  and  the  Acrocorinthus  130 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.  Looking  south.  The  rock  of  the 
ancient  citadel  Acrocorinth  is  some  igoo  feet  high.  A 
village  existed  on  the  old  site  till  1858,  when  it  was 
destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  and  New  Corinth  was  then 
founded  on  the  sea-shore. 

44.  C01.0SS1  OF  Abu  Simbeiv  148 

Photo  Frith.  They  all  represent  Ramses  II  {c.  1300,  the 
Pharaoh  of  Moses'  youth).  The  Greek  inscription  is  on 
the  legs  of  the  headless  colossus.  It  is  signed  by  '  Archon 
and  Pelekos/  who  had  "  travelled  with  King  Psamtik 
to  Elephantine,  and  as  far  as  the  river  permits."  Date 
594- 

45.  Cimmerians  148 

Photo  Mansell  S'Co.  A  terra-cotta  sarcophagus  found  at  Clazo- 
menae,  now  in  the  British  Museum.  The  head-dress, 
weapons,  and  war-dogs  make  it  likely  that  these  are 
the  mysterious  Cimmerians.  Others  take  it  for  a 
chariot-race  or  a  '  Doloneia.' 

46.  Site  of  Oi^ympia  and  Vai,e  of  the  Ai^pheios  152 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens. 

47.  Heraion,  Oi^ympia  152 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens. 

48.  Vai,e  of  Tempe  and  Mouth  of  River  Peneios  156 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens. 

49.  Site  of  Dei^phi  156 

Before  the  old  village  of  Zastri  had  been  cleared  away.  Photo 
by  Dr.  Walter  Leaf,  Hellenic  Society.  In  background 
lower  precipices  of  Parnassus  and  ravine,  from  the  left 
side  of  which  springs  the  Castalian  Fount.  The  great 
Temple  lies  further  west. 

50.  '  Artemis  of  Dei,os  '  172 

From  Gardner's  '  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture  '  {Macmillan 
&>  Co.  Ltd.).     Primitive  image  with  hair  (as  in  Cretan 
statue,     Fig.    6)    in    Egyptian     style.     Dedicated    by 
Nicandra  of  Naxos  to  the  Dehan  Artemis.     Found  in  ■ 
Delos. 

XV 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

riG.  PAGE 

51.  STEI.E  OF  ArISTION  172 

Photo  Alinari.     Athens  National  Museum. 

52.  The  Croesus  Coi^umn  182 

From  Gardner's  '  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture  '  {Macmillan 
&>  Co.  Ltd.).  The  inscription  is  on  the  moulding 
beneath  the  figure.     It  is  unfortunately  almost  invisible. 

53.  Tomb  of  Cyrus  192 

From  Dr.  Sarre's  '  Iranische  Felsreliefs  '  {Ernst  Wasmuth, 
A. -G.,  Berlin).     See  p.  193. 

54.  The  OIvYmpieion,  Athens  192 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.     See  p.  456. 

55.  Bl,ACK-FIGURED  VASES,  C.  70O-50O  204 

Photo  Mans  ell  S'  Co. 

Greek  vase  found  at  Vulci,  Etruria.  Achilles  slaying  Penthe- 
silea.     Date  c.  550. 

Panathenaic  prize  vase.  Victor  being  crowned.  Date 
perhaps  only  c.  420,  but  in  these  prize  vases  the  old 
black-figured  style  of  the  sixth  century  was  kept. 

In  middle  :  Attic  amphora.  Birth  of  Athene  (springing  from 
the  head  of  Zeus). 

Left  lower  :  Ancient  Corinthian  crater  (mixing  bowl). 
Return  of  Hephaestus  to  Olympus,  mounted  on  mule  and 
accompanied  by  Dionysus  and  satyrs.  A  not  infrequent 
comic  subject. 

From  Daphnae,  Egypt.  Such  water-jars  (about  thirty) 
only  found  at  Daphnae  (and  perhaps  Clazomenae). 
Decoration  all  of  same  type  :  above.  Sphinxes  ;  below, 
geese  ;  in  middle,  procession  of  women.  Black-figured 
style  with  white  women's  faces.  Date  c.  560  (age  of 
Solon,  Croesus,  and  Amasis). 

56.  Ancient  Bi,ack-figured  Amphora  210 

Photo  Mansell  cS*  Co.  From  Vulci,  in  Etruria,  but  Attic 
work.  Athene,  Zeus,  and  Hermes.  Archaic  style. 
Date  c.  560. 

57.  TEMPI.E  NEAR  SEGESTA  214 

Photo  Brogi.     See  Note  A. 

58.  Statue  from  the  Branchidae  Tempi^e  222 

From  Gardner's  '  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture  '  [Macmillan 
&>  Co.  Ltd.) .  Inscribed  with  name  of  Chares  of  Teichiussa. 
British  Museum. 

59.  The  '  Harpy  Tomb  '  222 

Photo  Mansell  6-  Co.     British  Museum. 

xvi 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

riG.  PAOB 

60.  EuROPA  ON  Tim  BuLi,  226 

From  Gardner's  '  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture  *  {Macmillan 
6*  Co.  Ltd.).  Metope  from  temple  at  Selinus.  At 
Palermo.  Somewhat  later  than  the  Selinus  reliefs  of 
Perseus  and  the  Gorgon,  and  the  extraordinary  fore- 
shortened chariot,  models  of  which  are  in  the  British 
Museum. 

61.  The  Tyrannicides  230 

Photo  Alinari,    Naples. 

62.  Tkmpi<e  of  Aphaia,  Aegina  232 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.    See  Note  A. 

63.  Aegina  Pediment  232 

Photo  F.  Bruckmann.  Central  group.  Restored  by  Thor- 
waldsen. 

64.  The  '  Darius  Vase  '  236 

Photo  F.  Bruckmann.  At  Naples.  An  Apulian  vase  of  about 
300.  Darius  is  seated  in  his  throne,  and  before  him 
stands  a  counsellor  who  is  supposed  to  be  warning  him 
against  invading  Greece. 

65.  Pythagoras  242 

Photo  Alinari.  Vatican.  Almost  incredible  as  genuine 
portrait.     No  sign  of  great  character  or  intellect. 

66.  Aeschyi^us  242 

Photo  Alinari.  Capitol.  Old  type  in  simple  grand  style. 
Possible  portrait.     Date  c.  420. 

67.  MiLTIADES  242 

Doubtful.  He  was  painted,  by  Micon  or  Polygnotus,  in 
pictures  of  Marathon,  and  his  statue  was  the  centre  of  a 
group  by  Pheidias  at  Delphi.  Old  drawings  exist  of 
ancient  busts,  now  lost.  This  bust  (helm  ornamented 
with  lions)  is  in  the  lyouvre.  Replica,  called  '  Masinissa,' 
in  Capitol. 

68.  Themistoci^es  242 

Photo  F.  Bruckmann.  At  Munich.  Often  called  "unknown 
archaic  warrior."  Very  fine,  and  dates  probably  from 
Persian  wars.     B  ernouUi  says  it  is  possibly  Themistocles. 

69.  Thermopyi^ae  260 

From  a  photo  by  Miss  A .  R.  Fry,  Failand,  Bristol.  From  the 
Leonidas  mound,  looking  west,  towards  MaUan  Plain 
and  the  Spercheios.  In  foreground  the  West  Gate  and 
the  Hot  Springs  ;  to  left  KalUdromos  and  Trachinian 
cliffs.  In  distance,  spur  of  Mount  Oeta  (?)  and  range 
of  Mount  Othrys. 

b  xvii 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PAGE 

70.  Tomb  of  IvEonidas  (?)  260 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co.  Ruins  on  a  mound  near 
Thermopylae ;  just  possibly  remains  of  the  tomb  of 
I^eonidas,  on  which  a  lion  was  erected. 

71.  Bay  of  Sai^amis  266 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.  From  Mount  Aegaleos,  looking  south. 
Aegina  and  Epidaurian  coast  in  distance.  Salamis  to 
right,  Psyttaleia  to  left. 

72.  Wai.i,s  of  Themistoci.es  266 

Photo  Simiriottis.  Athens.  From  near  Dipylon.  Hymettus  in 
distance.     Acropolis  and  Theseion  to  right. 

73.  Tomb  of  Darius  274 

The  entrance,  which  is  on  the  face  of  a  perpendicular  precipice. 
See  Note,  p.  193. 

74.  Charioteer  found  at  Dei^phi  274 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens. 

75.  OSTRAKA      OF     ThEMISTOCI^ES      AND      XANTHIPPUS, 

Father  of  Pericles  274 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co.  The  second  is  a  shard  of  a  painted 
vase  "  from  the  pre-Persian  dibris  on  the  Athenian 
Acropolis."  Another  has  been  found  with  the  name  of 
Megacles,  possibly  the  Megacles  mentioned  by  Pindar. 

76.  TempIvE  of  '  Concordia/  Acragas  278 

Photo  Brogi.     See  Note  A. 

yy.  '  HiERo's  Hei^met  '  278 

Photo  Mansell  6^  Co. 

78.  Group  of  Gods,  Parthenon  Frieze  284 

From  Gardner's  'Handbook  oj  Greek  Sculpture*  {Macmillan 
&  Co.  Ltd.). 

79.  The  '  Strangford  '  Shiei<d  284 

Photo  Mansell  cS^  Co.  Copy  of  the  shield  of  the  Pheidian 
Athene  Parthenos,  in  British  Museum.  The  figure 
that  half  covers  its  face  with  its  arm  is  said  to  be  that  of 
Pericles,  and  the  "bald-headed  but  vigorous"  man  on 
his  right  side  to  be  Pheidias  himself. 

80.  Tempi^e  on  Sunion  288 

Photo  by  Dr.  Walter  Leaf,  Hellenic  Society. 

81.  Theseion,  or  perhaps  Tempi^e  of  Hephaestus  288 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co. 

xviii 


LISiT    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  FAO* 

82.  Metopes  from  the  Parthenon  292 

Photo  Mansell  6*  Co.     British  Museum. 

83.  Parthenon,  from  West  296 

Photo  Alinari. 

84.  ApoiviyO's  Tempi^e,  Phigai^eia  296 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.     See  Note  A. 

85.  Portions  of  Parthenon  Frieze  304 

Photo  Mansell  cS-  Co. 

86.  The  Pediments  of  the  Parthenon  306 

Reconstructed  by  Karl  Schwerzek,  Ritter  des  kaiserl.  Franz- 
Joseph  Ordens.  The  work  was  specially  favoured  by  the 
late  Empress  of  Austria  and  the  Imperial  family.  It  is 
regarded  as  a  very  successful  attempt,  founded  on  a  most 
careful  study  of  all  the  remains.  My  thanks  are  due  to  the 
artist  for  kind  permission  to  reproduce  the  pictures  of 
his  models  given  in  his  Erlduterungen,  published  by 
himself  in  Vienna. 

8y.  Probabi^e  Copy  of  the  Pheidian  Athene  I/Emnia      310 

Photo  R.  Tamme,  Dresden;  reproduced  by  permission  of  the 
Director  of  the  Alhertinum.  A  very  fine  head  at  Bologna 
was  found  by  Professor  Furtwangler  to  fit  exactly  a 
headless  Athene  at  Dresden,  which  evidently  belonged  to 
the  Pheidian  school  of  sculpture.  Our  picture  represents 
this  body  furnished  with  a  cast  of  the  Bologna  head,  and 
according  to  Professor  Furtwangler,  whose  authority  few 
would  care  to  question,  we  have  in  the  complete  statue  a 
fine  copy  of  the  celebrated  lyemnian  Athene  of  Pheidias. 
Another  similar,  but  much  mutilated,  statue  in  the 
Dresden  Museum  has  been  restored  on  the  same  lines. 
The  face  of  the  Lemnia  is  cited  by  l^ucian  in  a  famous 
passage  {Imag.  vi.)  as  of  ideal  beauty  and  nobility, 
and  Himerius  says,  probably  in  reference  to  this  statue, 
that  Pheidias  sometimes  "  decked  the  virgin  goddess 
with  a  blush  instead  of  a  helmet." 

88.  Probabi^e  Copy  of  Myron's  Athene  310 

Photo  supplied  and  permission  for  reproduction  given  by  Dr. 
Swarzenski,  Director  of  the  Stddtische  Gallerie,  Frankfurt- 
a.-M.  The  rather  repellent  Marsyas  of  Myron  is  well 
known  from  a  coin,  a  painted  and  a  sculptured  vase,  and 
from  the  statue  in  the  £ateran  Museum  and  a  small  bronze 
in  the  British  Museum.  The  Marsyas  belonged  to  a  group 
in  which  Athene,  who  had  invented  flutes  and  had  cast 
them  away  (because  they  disfigured  her  face  when  she 
played),  was  represented  looHng  disdainfully  at  the 
satyr,  who  "  while  advancing  to  pick  up  the  discarded 
flutes  is  suddenly  confronted  by  the  goddess"  and  starts 

xix 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

VIC.  PAGE 

back  in  dismay.  The  Athene  was  supposed  to  be 
hopelessly  lost ;  but  about  1882  this  statue  of  Parian 
marble  was  dug  up  in  Rome,  and  after  lying  for  twenty 
years  in  a  shed  was  recognized  as  probably  the  lost 
Myron,  and  transferred  by  some  rich  German  Hellenists 
to  the  Frankfurt  Gallery.  It  is  a  beautiful  statue, 
and,  if  it  is  Myron's,  must  give  us  an  idea  of  him  as 
artist  very  different  from  what  we  gain  from  the  Marsyas 
or  the  Discobolos. 

Three  possibi^e  Copies  of  the  Pheidian  Athene  : 

89.  head  of  a  statue  in  rome  314 

From  Professor  E.  Luwy's  '  Griechische  Plastik  *  [Klinkhardt 
and  Biermann,  Leipzig).  By  Antiochos,  a  sculptor 
otherwise  unknown.  Museo  Nazionale  delle  Terme.  The 
dress  and  helm  are  not  like  those  of  the  Athene  Parthenos, 
but  the  face  is  believed  to  be  the  best  extant  copy  of  that 
of  the  Pheidian  goddess,  and  is  very  much  the  finest  of 
the  three  here  given. 

90.  A    STATUETTE    FOUND    AT  ATHENS,    NEAR    THE 

VARVAKEION  314 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co.  Supposed  by  some  to  be  a 
model,  by  a  Roman  artist,  of  the  Pheidian  Athene.  But 
it  is  q^uite  incredible  that  it  should  be  an  exact  repre- 
sentation. The  general  pose  may  be  reproduced  (as  it  is 
also  in  another  half -finished  statuette  found  by  M. 
lycnormant  near  the  Pnyx),  but  it  is  impossible  to  accept 
the  face,  or  the  exceedingly  ugly  device  of  the  column 
supporting  the  right  hand — though  it  may  have  been 
added  to  the  original  statue  at  some  later  time  to 
prevent  collapse. 

91.  A  RED  JASPER   INTAGWO   INSCRIBED  WITH    THE  NAME 

ASPASIOS  314 

From  Brunn-Bruckmann's  '  Denkmaler  der  griech.  und  rom. 
Sculptur.'  At  Vienna.  Evidently  a  copy  of  the  Pheidian 
Athene. 

92.  The  *  Meidias  Vase  '  326 

Photo  Mansell  &'  Co.  Hydria  signed  with  name  '  Meidias.' 
Winckelmann  esteemed  it  "  above  all  others  known  to 
him  "  for  beauty  of  drawing.  Date  c.  430,  but,  though  rich, 
still  very  pure  and  unaffected  by  the  '  fine  style.'  Below, 
Heracles  m  the  Garden  of  the  Hesperides  ;  above,  the 
l^eucippidae  carried  off  by  Castor  and  Pollux. 

93.  The  Nike  (Victory)  of  Paeonius  336 

From  Gardner's  '  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture  '  [Macmillan 
(S'  Co.  Ltd.).     In  the  Museum  at  Olympia. 

XX 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG. 


94.  Herodotus  348 

Photo  Brogi.  From  double  herm  (with  Thucydides)  at 
Naples.     Ancient  type  and  possible  portrait. 

95.  Thucydides  348 

Photo  Anderson.  Capitol.  Somewhat  like  the  Holkam 
bust,  which  is  perhaps  the  best ;  but  the  types  vary 
considerably. 

96.  Perici^es  348 

Photo  Anderson.  British  Museum.  Perhaps  after  the  bust 
or  statue  by  Cresilas,  whose  name  is  on  a  base  found  on 
the  Acropolis.  Date  c.  450.  Pericles  was  born  c.  500, 
and  is  represented  here  in  his  prime.  On  the '  Strangford ' 
Shield  he  is  probably  ten  years  older. 

97.  Al^CIBIADES  348 

Photo  Anderson.  Capitol.  Doubtful,  but  ancient.  Several 
copies  exist. 

98.  Sophoci.es  358 

Photo  Anderson.  I^ateran.  Other  statues  and  busts  of  same 
type  exist. 

99.  Euripides  362 

Photo  Anderson.  Vatican.  Body  once  with  other  head. 
A  Euripides  head  (too  small  1)  put  on  it  by  Pio  VII. 
Tragic  mask. 

100.  Socrates  376 

Photo  Brogi.  Naples.  Probably  the  most  authentic  of  many 
portraits  of  the  philosopher. 

loi.  Pi,ato  376 

Photo  Brogi.  Uffizi,  Florence.  Small — one-third  of  life-size. 
Built  into  the  wall.  Inscribed  name  ancient.  A  small 
bronze  copy  is  at  Oxford.  A  Plato  bust  at  Copenhagen 
is  somewhat  similar.  But  Bernoulli  says  these  are 
entirely  overthrown  by  a  bust  lately  discovered,  now  at 
Berlin. 

102.  Aristophanes  376 

Photo  Anderson.     Capitol.     Several  of  same  type. 

103.  lyYSIAS  376 

Photo  F.  Bruckmann.  Capitol.  Several  of  same  type,  one 
of  the  best  at  Holkam. 

104.  Mourning  Athene  384 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.  Perhaps  mourning  over  the 
epitaph  of  warriors  fallen  in  battle  (c.  450).  Found  built 
into  wall  of  Acropolis. 

105.  STEI.E  WITH  Woman  carrying  Vase  384 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co.  From  the  Cerameicus  at 
Athens. 

106.  Stei,e  of  Hegeso  384 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co.  From  the  Cerameicus  at 
Athens. 

xxi 


FIG. 
107. 


108. 
109. 

IIO. 


LIiSiT    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Figure  from  Greek  Tomb 

Photo  Mansell  &•  Co.  The  '  Trentham  Hall '  statue.  Since 
1907  in  British  Museum.  Probably  stood  on  a  tomb  in 
the  Cerameicus.  For  dress  see  Note  B.  Date  about 
fourth  century.  Probably  found  in  Italy,  and  perhaps 
reinscribed  for  monument  of  Roman  lady. 

Amazon  by  Poi,yci.eitus 

Photo  Alinari.  So-called  '  Mattei  Amazon,'  in  Vatican, 
Rome. 

STEI.E  OF  DEXII^EOS 

Photo  Simiriottis,  A  thens.  The  inscription  (in  Athens  National 
Museum  Catalogue)  seems  to  give  Coroneia  as  the  place 
where  he  fell,  though  others  mentioned  in  the  epitaph 
were  killed  near  Corinth. 

From  the  Mausoi^eum 

Photo  Mansell  6-  Co.  Ionic  column  and  architrave  in  British 
Museum. 


III.  Head  of  Cnidian  Aphrodite 


112. 
113- 


114. 

115. 
1x6. 
117. 
118. 
119. 

xxii 


Photo  F.  Bruckmann.  Possibly  a  copy  from  the  statue  by 
Praxiteles.    In  collection  of  Herr  von  Kaufmann,  Berlin. 

The  Hermes  of  Oi^ympia 

Photo  Alinari.     By  Praxiteles. 

Hypnos 

Photo  Mansell  6*  Co.  The  well-known  bronze  winged  head 
in  the  British  Museum  has  lately  been  set  on  the  body, 
newly  discovered.  It  represents  a  youth  running  and 
bending  forward.  He  probably  held  a  poppy  in  his 
hand.  The  work  is  evidently  of  the  Praxitelean  age 
(c.  360),  and  is  Greek,  though  found  near  Perugia,  in  Italy. 

The  Satyr  (Faun)  of  Praxitei.es 

Photo  A  nderson.  Capitoline  Museimi,  Rome.  The  best  known 
of  the  copies  of  the  original.  A  torso  in  the  I,ouvre  is 
believed  by  some  to  be  a  part  of  the  original  statue. 

Apoi.1.0  Sauroctonos 

Photo  Mansell  6*  Co.     Copy  of  the  statue  by  Praxiteles. 

Demeter 

Photo  Mansell  6-  Co.    Head  perhaps  by  Scop  as. 

KiRENE  AND  P1.UTUS 
Photo  F.  Bruckmann.     By  Cephisodotus. 

The  Cnidian  Aphrodite 

Photo  Mansell  6*  Co.     Copy  of  the  statue  by  Praxiteles. 

Drum  of  Coi^umn 

From  the  later  temple  of  Artemis  at  Kphesus.  Photo 
Mansell  &  Co,     British  Museum. 


PAGE 

384 


392 

392 

392 
392 

394 
394 


400 

404 
408 
414 
418 
420 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PAGE 

120.  Mausoi^us  422 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co.     British  Museum. 

121.  The  lyioN  OF  Chabroneia  430 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens. 

122.  Arcadian  Gate,  Messene  430 

Photo  Simiriottis,  Athens.  Messene  was  founded  by  Epamei- 
nondas. 

123.  Alexander  434 

Photo  Mansell  6'  Co.     British  Museum. 

124.  ISOCRATES  434 

Photo  Graphische  Gesellschaft.  Berlin.  Same  type  as  the 
bust  with  inscribed  name  in  Villa  Albani,  Rome.  Possibly 
copied  from  the  statue  of  Isocrates  by  Leochares  (see 
p.  443)  set  up  at  Eleusis  by  Timotheus,  son  of  Conon ;  but 
poor  work,  and  represents  him  at  earlier  time  of  life. 
If  genuine,  the  portrait  taken  during  his  life,  for  otherwise 
he  would  be  represented  as  very  old,  having  lived  about 
ninety-nine  years. 

125.  Aeschines  434 

Photo  Anderson.     Vatican.     Several  of  same  type. 

126.  Epicurus  434 

Photo  F.  Bruckmann.     Copenhagen. 

127.  Demosthenes  438 

Photo  Anderson.  Vatican.  False  restoration  with  book. 
Hands  should  be  lightly  interlocked  and  hold  no  book. 

128.  Aristoti^e  442 

Sitting  statue  :  Photo  Anderson.  Bust :  Photo  F.  Bruckmann. 
The  beardless  seated  statue  in  the  Spada  Palace  at 
Rome  has  inscription  arist  .  .  .  s,  but  the  s  is  not 
at  the  right  distance  for  aristoTEI^ES,  and  the  head 
seems  not  to  belong  to  the  body.  A  drawing  of  an 
ancient  bust  of  Aristotle  (such  busts  were  very  common 
among  the  Romans — vide  Juv.  Sat.  II,  vi.)  has  been  found 
in  an  old  manuscript,  and  has  led  to  identification  at 
Vienna  of  the  bearded  bust,  which  may  be  an  authentic 
likeness  ;  but  unfortunately  it  has  a  restored  irregular 
nose,  whereas  the  drawing  and  old  descriptions  give  him 
an  aquiline  nose  ! 

129.  Aphrodite  of  Mei,os  444 

Photo  Alinari.     I^ouvre. 

130.  The  '  A1.EXANDER  Sarcophagus  *  446 

Photo  Sebah  and  Joaillier.  Constantinople.  The  larger  relief 
represents  the  battle  of  Issus.  Alexander  is  on  horseback 
at  the  left  end. 

131.  The  Nike  of  Samothrace  448 

Photo  Alinari.     Louvre. 

132.  Temple  of  Athene  Nike  454 

Photo  Alinari. 

xxiii 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIG.  PAGE 

133.  Erechtheion  454 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co. 

134.  The  Acropous  from  near  the  OivYmpieion  456 

Photo  English  Photographic  Co.  Relics  of  ancient  city  wall 
and  columns  of  Olympieion  in  foreground.  Under 
Cimon's  great  south  wall  of  Acropolis  (just  above  the 
white  house)  the  Theatre  of  Dionysus,  and  further  left 
the  site  of  the  Odeion  of  Herodes. 

135.  Caryatid  from  Erechtheion  460 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co. 

136.  Monument  of  I^ysicrates  460 

Photo  Alinari. 

137.  Bronze  and  S11.VER  Dress-pins  460 

From  the  British  Museum  '  Guide  to  the  Department  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Antiquities.'    Mycenaean  and  later. 

138.  Ionic  Chiton  and  Himation  460 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co.  A  very  beautiful  bronze  statuette  in  the 
British  Museum. 

139.  Doric  Chiton  and  Dagger-like  Pins  460 

From  the  British  Museum  '  Guide  to  the  Department  of  Greek 
and  Roman  Antiquities.'  From  a  toilet-box  in  the 
British  Museum. 

140.  Early  Female  Dress  461 

From  the  Fran9ois  Vase. 

141.  Red-figured  Vases    and    White    Lekythi,    c, 

520-350  472 

Photo  Mansell  &  Co. 

Attic  hydria  from  Vulci,  Etruria.  Medea  and  the  daughters 
of  Pehas  (The  trick  of  the  rejuvenated  ram) .     Date  c.  470. 

Attic  stamnos  from  Vulci.     Odysseus  and  Sirens.     Date  c.  520. 

White  Attic  lekythi,  oil-flasks,  found  generally  in  tombs. 
Earlier  black  on  white,  later  polychrome.  Date  of  these 
c.  400.     Very  fine  collection  m  British  Museum. 

Attic  (or  possibly  Italian)  hydria,  found  in  Southern  Italy. 
Late  rich  '  Apuhan '  style,  but  not  debased.  Scene 
similar  to  some  on  Attic  stelae.     Date  c.  350. 


XXIV 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  AEGAEAN  CIVILIZATION  :  THE 
ACHAEAN  SUPREMACY 

(DOWN  XO   C.   IIOO) 

SECTIONS  :  lyANGUAGB  AND  WRITING  :  THB  OlyD  RKI.IGION  : 

the;    '  HOMERIC  AGE '   AND    HOMER  :  CHRONOI^OGY  OF 

AEGAEAN  AND  CONTEMPORARY  CIVII^IZATIONS 

NOT  very  long  ago  the  history  of  Greece  (such  history  as  is 
founded  on  the  evidence  of  contemporary  inscriptions 
and  similar  relics)  was  held  to  begin  about  the  tra- 
ditional date  of  the  first  Olympiad — namely,  776.  It  is  true 
that  for  some  two  thousand  years  a  chronology  of  the  'pre- 
historic '  or  '  mythical '  age  of  Greece  was  accepted  with  more 
or  less  diffidence,  and  has  been  handed  down  to  our  times. 
This  chronology,  based  on  the  calculations  of  ancient  writers  ^ 
and  drawn  up  finally  {c.  220)  by  the  keeper  of  the  great 
Alexandrian  library,  Kratosthenes,  takes  us  back  to  the  founda- 
tion of  Thebes  by  Cadmus  in  13 13,  a  date  of  modest  pre- 
tensions compared  with  those  given  by  some  old  writers,  who 
by  calculating  the  generations  of  ancient  dynasties  and  hero- 
families  lead  us  back  beyond  Deucalion,  the  Greek  Noah 
and  father  of  all  Hellenes,  to  Pelasgus,  the  ancestor  of  all 
Pelasgians,  and  his  ancestor  Inachus,  the  first  king  of  Argos, 
who  is  said  to  have  lived  about  1986. 

All  this  chronology  and  all  the  traditions  of  the  so-called 
mythical  age  were  until  quite  lately  rejected  as  of  no  historical 
value  by  almost  every  modern  writer  on  Greece — as  valueless 

1  See  Hdt.  vii.  204,  where,  according  to  the  accepted  genealogy  of  the  Spartan 
kings,  Leonidas  is  shown  to  have  been  the  twenty-first  from  Heracles,  whose 
traditional  date  is  1261-1209.  C/.  Hdt.  viii.  131.  Some  assert  that  Eratosthenes 
went  back  only  to  the  Fall  of  Troy  (i  184) .  Thucydides  fixes  the  Dorian  invasion 
(return  of  Heracleidae)  at  eighty  years  after  the  Fall  of  Troy.  Some  of  these 
dates  come  curiously  near  to  those  accepted  by  modern  archaeology. 

A  I 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
as  the  legends  of  Brute  the  Trojan  and  the  Cornish  giants  and 
early  kings  of  Britain,  which  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  gives  as 
serious  history,  and  which  even  Milton  in  his  history  of  England 
is  half  inclined  to  accept  on  the  ground  that  "  never  any 
to  have  been  real  persons,  or  done  in  their  lives  at  least  some 
part  of  what  so  long  hath  been  remember'd,  cannot  be  thought 
without  too  strict  an  incredulity. '* 

That  in  this  '  mythical  age '  of  Greece,  long  before  the  Fall 
of  Troy,  great  wars  had  been  waged  ^  and  great  empires  had 
existed  was  not  denied  ;  but  even  such  statements  as  those 
of  Thucydides  and  Herodotus  about  the  sea-empire  of  Minos 
the  Cretan  were  relegated  to  the  realm  of  fable — the  realm  of 
demigods  and  monsters. 

Nor  was  it  denied  that  from  certain  points  of  view  fables  and 
traditions  are  of  supreme  interest  and  value.  Plato  himself 
has  pointed  out  ^  the  great  ethical  value  of  poetic  fiction  and 
the  uselessness  and  folly  of  attempting  to  unweave  the  rainbows 
of  old  fables — of  decomposing  them  into  allegories  or  sun- 
myths  ;  and  in  this  he  has  been  followed  by  perhaps  the 
greatest  modern  historian  of  Greece,  Grote,  who  has  devoted 
the  first  of  his  ten  volumes  almost  entirely  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Greek  myths  as  wonderful  products  of  Greek  imagination, 
and  has  carefully  weighed  their  influence  on  the  Greek  mind 
and  on  the  course  of  Greek  history. 

But  Grote  also  agrees  with  Plato  in  believing  it  to  be  use- 
less and  foolish  to  analyse  these  ancient  myths  for  the  purpose 
of  discovering  any  deposit  of  historical  fact.  "The  hope," 
he  says,  "  that  we  may,  by  carrying  our  researches  up  the 
stream  of  time,  exhaust  the  hmits  of  fiction  and  land  ulti- 
mately upon  some  points  of  solid  truth  appears  to  me  no  less 
illusory  than  the  northward  journey  in  quest  of  the  Hyperborean 
Elysium" — the  Earthly  Paradise  of  the  ancients,  the  I^and 
beyond  the  North  Wind. 

Within  the  last  thirty  years  or  more  this  point  of  view  has 
been  gradually  abandoned,  even  by  the  most  sceptical.    How- 

1  Vixere  fortes  ante  Agamemnona  Multi.  ,  .  . — HoracB. 

2  In  the  Phaedrus. 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

ever  disdainfully  the  modern  historian  may  still  speak  of  such 
'  fables '  as  those  of  Pelops  and  I^ycurgus  (whom,  borrowing  a 
phrase  from  Herodotus,  they  describe  as  "  not  men,  but  only 
gods  "),  none  would  now  venture  to  deny  that  there  are  "  points 
of  sohd  truth"  in  legends  that  indicate  the  former  existence 
of  a  great  ancient  Mycenaean  civilization,  or  a  still  greater 
and  more  ancient  civilization  in  Crete ;  for  we  now  possess 
indisputable  evidence  that  such  civilizations  existed,  and  that 
in  many  an  old  legend  there  was  at  least  a  germ  of  truth.  Nor 
is  it  impossible  that  ere  long  the  excavator  and  the  philologist 
(for  both  of  whom  a  vast  amount  of  unexplored  and  unde- 
ciphered  material  is  at  hand)  may  open  up  yet  more  wonderful 
vistas  and  help  us  to  reconstruct  and  repeople  far  more  fully 
and  vividly  the  so-called  mythical  age  of  Greece.  Should  this 
happen,  I  doubt  not  that  many  more  of  the  old  myths  will  be 
found  to  contain  some  historical  truth  in  the  midst  of  their 
poetic  fictions,  and  that  once  more  many  a  sceptic  will  have 
to  re  weave  his  theories. 

This,  however,  is  a  task  for  the  archaeologist  and  the  linguist. 
For  the  historian  it  is  still  nearly  as  true  as  it  was  in  Grote's 
day  that  "  two  courses,  and  two  only,  are  open  :  either  to  pass 
over  the  myths  altogether,  or  else  to  give  an  account  of  them 
as  myths."  And  seeing  that  to  give  a  full  account  of  myths 
regarded  as  creations  of  poetic  imagination,  or  as  interesting 
folk-lore,  seems  to  be  in  this  age  of  specialists  the  task  of 
other  writers  rather  than  that  of  the  historian,  and  considering 
that  classical  dictionaries  and  books  about  mythology  are  easily 
obtained,  and  that  a  very  full  and  systematic  account  of  these 
ancient  Greek  myths  may  be  found  in  Grote's  first  volume,  I 
shall  only  relate,  or  mention,  those  which  appear  to  have  some 
connexion  with  historical  facts,  or  with  such  reconstructions  as 
may  be  reasonably  built  up  on  the  relics  of  prehistoric  times. 

The  first  part  of  my  subject  is  the  so-called  Aegaean  civiliza- 
tion, which  has  been  brought  to  light  within  the  last  tliirty  or 
forty  years.  Enough  has  been  discovered  by  excavation  and 
research  to  assure  us  that  a  once  undreamt-of  civilization 
of  very  considerable  importance  did  actually  exist  in  Aegaean 

3 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

lands  long  before  the  first  Olympiad,  or  the  invasion  of  the 
Dorians,  or  even  the  first  coming  of  those  Achaeans  by  whom 
Troy  is  said  to  have  been  sacked — a  civilization  which  in  all 
probability  was  already  in  existence  at  a  period  as  far  anterior 
to  the  age  of  Pericles  as  that  age  is  anterior  to  our  own.  So 
much  seems  certain  ;  but  what  further  deductions  we  are 
justified  in  making,  and  how  we  are  to  adjust  and  use  all  the 
evidence  that  has  come  to  Hght,  it  is  at  present  difficult  to  see. 
It  should  therefore  be  the  aim  of  every  one  who  writes  on  the 
subject  to  place  the  evidence  clearly,  fully,  and  accurately 
before  his  readers  and  to  indulge  as  little  as  possible  in  theoretics. 
A  certain  amount  of  theory  and  hypothesis  is  necessary  in 
order  that  the  facts  may  be  classified  and  presented  in  a  dis- 
tinct and  graphic  form,  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  at 
any  moment  new  discoveries  may  be  made  which  may  roughly 
upset  our  most  plausible  reconstructions. 

At  what  stage  in  the  history  of  humanity  the  first  wave  of 
Aryan  migration  reached  Central  Europe  we  have  no  means 
of  knowing,  but  it  is  indubitable  that  the  people  whom  we 
call  the  ancient  Greeks,  and  who  called  themselves  Hellenes, 
were  mainly  ^  of  this  Indo-Germanic  race,  and  that  when 
their  northern  ancestors  first  pushed  southward  into  Greece 
they  found  there  a  race  of  quite  a  different  kind — a  dark- 
haired,  lithe-limbed  race,  which  in  that  age  under  various 
names  seems  to  have  inhabited  most  of  the  European  lands 
bordering  on  the  Mediterranean.  The  Northmen  probably 
came  in  small  bands  at  first,  and,  like  the  Normans  of  later 
days  i*n  Southern  Europe,  established  themselves  as  chieftains 
among  the  less  warlike  Southerners.  In  time  they  would  be 
followed  by  successive  waves  of  invaders,  many  of  whom 
would  settle  in  the  country,  appropriate  the  land  and  the 

^  This  is  perhaps  too  strong.  Possibly  the  intermixture  of  the  northern 
(Achaean  and  Dorian)  invaders  with  the  aborigines  was  in  time  somewhat 
such  as  that  of  the  Normans  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Celtic  population  in 
Britain,  and  the  strangely  rapid  development  and  perfection  of  classical 
Greek  art  may  have  been  due  to  the  revival  of  art-feeling  that  had  existed 
in  the  race  before  the  advent  of  the  northern  invaders,  just  as  the  supremac}- 
of  Tuscan  art  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  was  possibly  due  to 
the  old  Etruscan  element. 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

women  and  enslave  the  men,  or  drive  them  forth  to  take 
refuge  in  more  barren  or  mountainous  districts,  such  as  Attica 
and  Arcadia.^ 

Now  the  evidence  supplied  by  excavation  and  research  points 
to  the  fact  that  in  Greece,  at  a  period  not  much  anterior  to 
the  age  of  the  fair-haired  Achaean  princes  described  by  Homer, 
this  dark-haired,  lithe-limbed  Mediterranean  race  was  still  in 
possession  ;  and  similar  evidence  makes  it  clear  that  in  Crete 
a  people  probably  belonging  to  the  same  race,  and  of  a  like 
civiHzation,  existed  from  a  very  early  time,  and  possessed  a 
powerful  empire  until  the  advent  of  the  northern  conquerors. 
It  is  this  so-called  Minoan  and  Mycenaean  civilization  which 
of  late  years  has  been  revealed  to  us. 

The  Trojan  Cities 

In  the  year  1870  the  first  beginning  was  made,  by  Dr.  SchHe- 
mann,  of  the  excavations  that  have  led  to  this  result.  lyong 
before  that  date  the  ancient  history  of  Egypt  and  of  Mesopo- 
tamia had  been  to  a  large  extent  reconstructed  by  the  dis- 
coveries of  monuments  and  the  deciphering  of  hieroglyphic 
and  cuneiform  inscriptions,  but  of  the  first  ages  of  Greece  what 
few  relics  were  known,  such  as  old  '  Pelasgic  '  walls  and  a 
few  ancient  sepulchres  and  remnants  of  primeval  pottery, 
were  regarded  with  hopeless  wonderment  as  the  survivals  of  a 
civilization  which  had  passed  away  into  eternal  oblivion. 
Much  incredulity  and  some  ridicule  met  the  enthusiasm  of 
Dr.  SchHemann,  therefore,  when  he  announced  his  intention 
first  to  excavate  ancient  Troy  and  then  to  discover  the  tomb 
of  Agamemnon  (described  by  Pausanias)  at  Mycenae.  The 
site  of  Homeric  Troy  he  believed,  in  spite  of  the  contrary 
opinion  of  scholars,  to  be  that  of  the  later  Roman  city  Novum 
Ilium,  now  the  Hill  of  Hissarlik.  On  this  site»he  and  his 
successors  discovered  the  remains  of  no  less  than  seven — 
possibly  nine — towns.     Traces   of  the  rough-stone  walls   of 

^  In  this  connexion  the  celebrated  opening  chapters  of  Thucydides'  history- 
should  be  read.  The  discoveries  of  late  years  have  added  greatly  to  their 
interest. 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

the  earliest  of  these  towns  are  still  visible,  and  within  them 
have  been  discovered  fragments  of  primitive  black  pottery 
and  stone  implements — among  which  is  an  axe-head  of  white 
jade  (nephrite),  a  stone  said  to  be  found  in  its  natural  state 
only  in  China.  ^  The  second  town  had  great  ramparts  with 
towers  and  a  fortified  gate,  all  of  sun-baked  brick,  with  a 
paved  ramp  and  stone  foundations.  The  relics  were  pottery 
(still  hand-made)  and  stone  and  copper  implements.  Bronze 
seems  to  have  been  still  rare,  but  near  to  the  great  gate,  within 
a  kind  of  acropohs,  was  discovered  a  very  considerable  treasure 
of  gold  and  silver  vessels  and  ornaments,  together  with  copper 
weapons  and  a  hideous  leaden  idol  of  some  ancient  female 
deity.  The  great  ramparts  and  the  wealth  and  art  evidenced 
by  these  finely  wrought  gold  and  silver  ornaments  made 
Schliemann  conclude  that  this  was  the  Homeric  city,  and 
that  he  had  discovered  the  Treasure  of  King  Priam.  But, 
almost  incredible  as  it  seemed  before  the  discoveries  of  similar 
treasures  and  other  works  of  art  in  Crete  and  at  Mycenae, 
it  is  now  beheved  that  this  second  city  of  Troy  existed  at  least 
a  thousand  years  before  the  days  of  Priam  and  Agamemnon, 
and  that  the  ruins  of  the  sixth  stratum  are  in  all  probability 
those  of  the  Homeric  city.  These  ruins  consist  of  great  and 
well-built  walls  of  wrought  stone  (Fig.  i),  far  better  built 
than  so-called  *  Pelasgic  '  walls,  and  enclosing  a  very  consider- 
able area,  with  remains  of  a  high- terraced  acropolis,  on  the 
summit  of  which  was  doubtless,  as  at  Mycenae  and  Tiryns, 
the  regal  palace.  Of  the  four  city  gates  the  two  greatest, 
those  to  the  south  and  the  east,  were  guarded  by  strong  towers, 
and  one  of  these  might  be  the  famous  *  Scaean  Gate  '  of  the 
Iliad  except  for  the  fact  that  Homer's  '  Scaean  Gate  *  seems 
to   have  looked  towards  the  Grecian  camp   and  the  sea — 

^  Jade  and  jadite  are  to  be  found  in  the  Alps  and  in  European  megalithic 
monuments.  In  one  of  the  latter,  in  Brittany,  an  axe-head  of  white  jade 
seems  to  have  been  discovered  {Myths  and  Legends  of  the  Celtic  Race,  by 
T.  W.  Rolleston).  It  seems  therefore  a  little  over-fanciful  to  build  up  on  a 
bit  of  nephrite  the  possibility  of  commerce  between  this  primeval  Trojan  town 
and  China  via  Nineveh.  But  even  such  a  guess  may  be  verified  by  future 
discovery. 

6 


I.  Wai.1,  of  the  Sixth  City  of  Troy 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

evidently  to  the  north-west,  in  which  part  the  old  walls  were 
demolished  (50  B.C.)  in  order  to  fortify  Sigeion  (Sigeum). 

In  this  sixth  city  bronze  ^  weapons  were  found,  and  many 
fragments  of  what  is  called  '  Mycenaean '  pottery — a  glazed 
and  painted  wheel-made  ware  which  denotes  the  later  period 
of  Mycenaean  civilization  {c.  1400-1200),  and  which  has  been 
found  not  only  in  Aegaean  lands,  but  in  Spain,  Italy,  Egypt, 
Cyprus,  and  Asia  Minor.    From  these  and  other  evidences  it 
seems  highly  probable  that  Homeric  Troy  was  built  at  the 
time  when  [c.  1350)  the  northern  Achaean  race  was  still  pouring 
down  through  Thessaly  into  lyower  Greece  ;   that  the  builders 
were  a  northern  Aryan  (Danubian)  people  related  to  the  fair- 
haired  Achaeans,  namely,  the  Bhryges,  or  Phrygians  ;    and 
that  this  sixth  city  ^  was  afterwards  burnt  by  foreign  enemies, 
whom  we  may  most  reasonably  suppose  to  have  been  the 
Achaean  princes  of  Greece  and  their  followers  (a  mixed  host 
of  Achaeans,  Argives,  and  Aegaeans)  described  by  Homer. 

The  Bhryges,  or  Phrygians,  were  apparently  a  tribe  of  the 
same  great  Aryan  race  (originally  from  Northern  India,  but 
long  inhabiting  Central  Europe)  to  which  the  Mysians  and 
perhaps  also  the  I^ydians  and  Lycians  and  other  peoples  of 
Asia  Minor  belonged,^  as  well  as  the  Achaeans  of  Greece.  They 
seem  to  have  come  over  from  Thrace  in  successive  waves 
during  several  centuries.  The  second  city  of  Troy  was  probably 
founded  by  earlier  Phrygian  or  northern  invaders,  and  it  was 
possibly  to  later  invasions  of  the  same  northern  race  that  the 
destruction  and  refounding  of  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
cities  were  due,  on  which  occasions  the  earlier  comers  (I^ycians 

1  But  only  one  specimen  of  iron — a  knife,  which  Schliemann  believed  to  have 
slipped  down  from  a  higher  stratum. 

2  Possibly  also  the  fifth,  for  tradition  tells  us  of  a  former  sack  of  Troy  by 
Telamon  and  Heracles. 

^  The  original  inhabitants  of  Lydia  may  have  been  non-Aryan,  but  they 
were  conquered  by  and  amalgamated  with  the  Phrygians.  These  mixed 
peoples  are  called.  Maeonians  (Mjyovfy)  by  Homer,  who  does  not  mention 
Ivydians.  The  Lycians  I  believe  to  have  been  of  Aryan  stock,  but  not  the 
Carians,  whom  Homer  describes  as  "  speaking  a  strange  tongue."  The 
Pamphylians  are  believed  to  have  belonged  to  the  later  Dorian  race  of 
invaders,  of  whom  three  tribes  are  often  mentioned  :  Hylleis,  Pamphyli, 
Dymanes. 

7 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
and  others)  were  driven  further  south.  Or  possibly  these 
Aryan  invaders  for  several  centuries,  before  they  made  them- 
selves masters  of  these  north-western  parts  of  Asia  Minor, 
had  been  obliged  to  fight  for  existence  against  the  older 
inhabitants.  Who  these  older  inhabitants  were  is  not  known 
for  certain,  but  it  is  believed  that  in  this  age  the  great  Empire 
of  the  Hittites,  a  Semitic  race  (mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  perhaps  the  KrircLoi  of  Odyssey  xi.  521),  whose  chief 
city  was  Carchemish,  extended  over  much  of  Asia  Minor. 
This  seems  proved  by  numerous  inscriptions  in  Hittite  script, 
a  syllabic  hieroglyphic  writing,  which  has  been  partly 
deciphered. 1  Tablets,  too,  have  been  discovered  with  official 
correspondence  between  the  Hittite  kings  and  subject  states, 
and  a  cuneiform  version  of  a  treaty  between  the  Hittite 
king  Chetasor  and  Ramses  II  of  Egypt. 

We  hear  also  of  a  great  nation  of  Cappadocians  (probably 
different  from  the  Hittites),  whose  chief  city  was  Pteria. 
These  nations  blocked  the  western  expansion  of  Babylon  and 
Assyria,  and  of  eastern  art  and  cuneiform  writing. 

The  Homeric  Trojans  were  evidently  a  mixed  people  com- 
posed of  northern  and  aboriginal  elements  (Queen  Hecabe, 
for  instance,  was  a  Phrygian),  speaking  a  language  closely 
akin  to  that  of  the  Achaeans,  and  worshipping  similar  northern 
deities.^  The  chivalrous  respect  with  which,  in  Homer's 
poem,  the  Achaean  princes  regard  their  foes  doubtless  existed 
in  reality  between  the  northern  conquerors  on  both  sides  of 
the  Aegaean,  and,  in  spite  of  all  arguments  about  pure  Achaean 
blood  and  fair  hair  (which  the  Phrygian  chieftains  may  also 
have  had),  we  can  feel  assured  that  the  traditions  that  make 
Pelops,  the  son  of  the  Phrygian  king  Tantalus,  give  his  name 
to  the  Peloponnese  and  found  the  royal  house  of  the  Pelopidae, 
to  which  Agamemnon  and  Menelaus  belonged,  as  well  as  the 
traditions  (repeated  by  the  sane-minded  Thucydides)  which 
derived  the  great  wealth  of  *  golden  Mycenae  '  from  Phrygian 
mines  and  the  gold-sands  of  the  Pactolus,  have  some  historical 
basis. 

1  See  Section  A,  '  Writing/  *  See  Section  B,  '  The  Old  Religion.' 

8 


u 


t 


LIZ^IO 

lesian  djiasty  < 
^^  no  god  reasc 
:iether  fe  was 
1  the  P0ponne 

•    so.    tlin     i]iQ    ( 

ell  ] 
ed 

IiicJ 
lis, 
n  1 


Tr< 

he  t 
He 
lom 
'  rec 
)n  ^ 


^(■over 
iot  B\ 
le  ve 

^perli£ 


le 

les 

Jpar1 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

That  the  founder  of  a  royal  Peloponnesian  dynasty  came 
from  Phrygia,  as  tradition  avers,  we  have  no  good  reason  to 
doubt,  but  the  question  is,  I  think,  whether  this  was  not 
long  before  the  advent  of  the  Achaeans  in  the  Peloponnese  or 
the  Phrygians  in  Asia  Minor.  If  it  were  so,  then  the  older 
Pelopid  monarchs  of  Pisa,  Mycenae,  and  Sparta  may  well  have 
been  of  Aegaean  or  even  Hittite  race,  and  have  ruled  over 
an  aboriginal  Aegaean  population,  and  the  tombs  of  which  we 
shall  soon  hear  may  be  those  of  these  older  monarchs,  into 
whose  family  the  Achaeans  may  have  married  when  they 
conquered  the  land. 

Schliemann  had  proved  conclusively  that  a  great  Trojan 
city  had  existed,  and  that  it  had  been  burnt  about  the  time 
of  the  traditional  date  of  the  Fall  of  Troy  (1184).  He  had 
shown  that  there  is  a  very  solid  historical  basis  in  Homer's 
great  poem  ;  and  further  research  has  enabled  us  to  recon- 
struct and  repeople  this  Homeric  age.  But  excavation  was 
to  open  up  vistas  into  far  more  distant  ages. 

Mycenae 

Dr.  Schliemann  had  announced  his  intention  of  discovering 
the  tomb  of  Agamemnon  at  Mycenae  ;  and  if  he  did  not  find, 
as  he  firmly  believed  he  had  done,  the  tomb  and  the  very 
body  of  the  great  Achaean  king,  he  found  something  perhaps 
still  more  wonderful. 

Homer's  "  golden,  wide- way ed  Mycenae,"  the  home  of 
Agamemnon,  1  was  evidently  one  of  the  principal  cities  of 
Achaean  Greece,  larger  than  Argos,  Tiryns,  Corinth,  or  Sparta. 
In  later  days  its  importance  declined  so  much  that  it  could 
supply  only  eighty  men  for  Thermopylae  and  two  hundred 
for  Plataea.     Soon  afterwards  (462)  it  was  destroyed  by  the 

^  Some  modern  writers  have  propounded  the  idea  that  Agamemnon  had 
nothing  to  do  with  Mycenae,  but  was  king  of  the  old  district  of  Argos  in 
Thessaly,  and  was  '  translated,'  together  with  his  Achaeans  and  Argives, 
to  the  Peloponnese  by  some  late  contributor  to  the  Homeric  poems  !  This 
would  indeed  be  an  easy  solution  of  the  Mycenae  problem.  In  the  Odyssey 
Agamemnon  is  evidently  murdered  at  Mycenae.  The  dramatists  make  Argos 
the  scene  of  the  slaughter. 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Argives  and  the  inhabitants  were  expelled,  and  the  ingenuity 
of  Thucydides  finds  some  difficulty  in  explaining  away  the 
apparent  insignificance  of  its  ruins. 

Some  of  these  ruins  were  the  massive  ramparts  and  the 
well-known  lyion  Gate,  which  still  exist ;  and  it  was  within 
these  walls  of  the  ancient  Mycenaean  acropolis  that  the 
Greek  traveller  and  writer  Pausanias  (to  whose  descriptions 
we  owe  much  of  our  knowledge  of  Greek  antiquities)  saw 
the  tombs,  or  what  were  then  {c.  a.d.  i6o)  believed  to  be  the 
tombs,  of  Atreus  and  Agamemnon.  "  Some  remnants  of  the 
encircling  wall,"  says  Pausanias,  "  are  still  visible,  and  also 
a  gate  which  has  lions  over  it.  These,  as  they  say,  were 
built  by  the  Cyclopes.  .  .  .  There  is  the  tomb  of  Atreus 
and  of  the  men  whom  Aegisthus  slew  at  the  banquet  when 
they  returned  from  Troy  .  .  .  and  the  tomb  of  Agamemnon. 
But  Clytaemnestra  and  Aegisthus  were  buried  a  short  distance 
outside  the  walls,  for  they  were  deemed  unworthy  to  lie 
within,  where  Agamemnon  was  interred  and  those  who  fell 
with  him.'' 

Trusting  in  this  description,  Dr.  Schliemann,  in  1876,  sank 

a  pit,  some  40  yards  square,  within  the  walls  of  the  acropolis, 

not  far  from  the  lyion  Gate.     He  first  came  upon  stone  slabs, 

vertical  and  horizontal,  forming  what  he  thought  to  be  the 

seats  of  an  agora  (place  of  council).     Below  these  he  found 

an  altar  and  some  tombstones  (stelae) ,  and  under  these  again, 

some  25  feet  below  the  surface,  six  square  tombs  hewn  vertically 

in  the  solid  rock.     These  had  originally  been  covered  with 

great  slabs  of  stone.     The  slabs  had  given  way,  and  the  tombs 

(which  are  from  10  to  15  feet  deep  and  of  various  sizes)  were 

filled   with  earth   and   stones,    amidst  which  lay   embedded 

no  less  than  seventeen  human  bodies.     On  excavating  these 

tombs  a  great  amount  of  treasure  was  discovered — rings  and 

sword-hilts  and  bracelets  and  pins  and  brooches  and  necklaces 

and  hundreds  of  other  ornaments,  all  of  pure  gold,  more  than 

seven  hundred  golden  plaques  (probably  once  attached  to  the 

women's  dresses),  diadems  of  gold  on  the  heads  of  the  women 

and  masks  of  gold  covering  the  faces  of  some  of  the  men, 

10 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

besides  many  other  costly  objects,  in  silver,  bronze,  amber, 
and  ivory.  "  Au  seul  point  de  vue  de  la  valeur  venale,"  says 
DieH,  "  les  bijoux  representent  plus  de  100,000  francs  d'or; 
au  point  de  vue  artistique  et  scientifique,  leur  prix  est 
inestimable/'  It  was  scarcely  strange  that  Dr.  Schliemann 
in  his  hour  of  triumph  dispatched  a  telegram  to  the  King  of 
Greece  announcing  that  he  had  discovered  the  tombs  that 
Pausanias  describes,  and  probably  the  tombs  of  those  Achaean 
princes  of  *  golden  Mycenae  '  of  whom  Homer  sang.  But  are 
these  the  tombs  which  Pausanias  saw  ?  And  are  they  the 
tombs  of  the  Achaean  princes  ?  Before  venturing  to  answer 
this  question  let  us  hear  more. 

Besides  the  six  shaft-graves  on  the  acropolis  there  exist 
(partly  known  before  excavation  by  Schliemann  and  others) 
nine  great  vaulted  sepulchres,  of  which  the  so-called  Treasury 
of  Atreus  is  the  largest.  It  is  a  lofty  '  beehive  '  chamber, 
about  50  feet  high,  sunk  into  the  side  of  a  hill,  and  approached 
by  a  deep  passage  about  40  yards  in  length.  The  fagade  was 
once  richly  decorated.  The  portal,  which  has  a  lintel  nearly 
30  feet  long  and  weighing  some  120  tons,  was  flanked  by 
alabaster  columns  with  zigzag  and  spiral  ornament.^  Above 
the  lintel  was  a  large  triangle  of  red  porphyry,  the  architectural 
device  being  evidently  copied  from  the  lyion  Gate.  In  these 
great  sepulchres  no  treasure  was  found.  They  had  been 
plundered  and  stripped  even  of  their  bronze  decorations. 
Nor  were  any  bodies  discovered.  But  what  few  evidences 
came  to  light  made  it  clear  that  these  tombs  were  of  a  later 
age  than  the  shaft-tombs  of  the  acropolis. 

Some  less  pretentious  square  tombs  with  slanting  roofs 
were  also  discovered  cut  out  of  the  rock  on  a  lower  level — 
probably  the  site  of  the  town  of  Mycenae  ;    and  the  remains 

*  Portions  of  these  columns  are  in  the  British  Museum.  Another  similar 
tomb,  and  nearly  as  large,  is  known  as  the  Tomb  of  Clytaemnestra.  It  was 
mostly  excavated  by  Mrs.  Schliemann.  In  order  to  avoid  perplexing  the 
reader  with  details  I  do  not  describe  the  further  excavations  at  Tiryns, 
Orchomenus,  and  other  places,  where  interesting  evidences  of  the  Aegaean 
civilization  were  found,  but  nothing  at  all  comparable  with  the  tombs  of 
Mycenae. 

II 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

of  a  palace,  probably  of  the  Achaean  age,  were  found  on  the 
summit  of  the  hills. 

Now  let  us,  with  the  aid  of  our  illustrations,  consider  towards 
what  conclusion  the  evidence  points.  I  believe  it  will  be  found 
to  point  towards  this  conclusion  :  that  the  shaft-graves  of  the 
acropolis  are  the  tombs  of  princes  (possibly  Pelopidae)  who 
ruled  over  an  '  Aegaean  '  people  before  the  advent  of  the 
Achaean  invaders.  And  I  believe  that  the  great  vaulted 
sepulchres  of  later  date  are  most  probably  the  tombs  of  the 
Achaean  princes,^  and  that  the  palace  was  built  by  them. 

(i)  Firstly,  the  human  remains  were  skulls  and  bones  "  on 
which  were  remnants  of  flesh  and  skin."  They  had  evidently 
not  been  burnt.  (Ashes  were  found,  but  probably  these 
were  the  ashes  of  sacrificed  victims — possibly  also  human.) 
Now  the  Achaeans,  if  we  are  to  believe  Homer,  burnt  their 
dead,  sometimes  burying  the  ashes  under  a  great  mound. 
Embalming  or  '  drying  '  a  body  is  once  mentioned,  but  the 
slain  Homeric  heroes  (Achilles,  Hector,  Patroclus,  Elpenor) 
are  all  burnt  on  a  funeral  pyre,  and  the  graphic  account  of 
the  process  given  by  the  ghost  of  Odysseus'  mother  {Od.  xi.) 
surely  shows  that  burning  was  customary  among  the 
Achaeans.  2 

(2)  Secondly,  the  dress  and  arms  of  the  portrayed  Mycenaean 
warriors  are  not  at  all  what  one  associates  with  the  Homeric 
Achaeans.  In  a  siege-scene  depicted  on  a  fragment  of  a  silver 
vessel  (Fig.  5)  most  of  the  defenders  of  the  fort  are  armed  with 
slings  and  bows,  and  are  stark  naked,  while  two  in  the  rear 
rank  are  enveloped  in  great  hide  (or  bark  ?)  shields,  apparently 
suspended  by  a  baldrick  of  thongs  or  cords,  for  the  men  are 

1  This  is  of  course  inconsistent  with  the  assertion  of  Pausanias  given  above. 
He  may  have  seen  the  acropolis  tombs,  but  it  is  very  remarkable  that  if  they 
were  known  in  his  day  they  should  have  remained  unrifled. 

2  Burial  and  burning  often  existed  side  by  side,  as  was  certainly  the  case 
in  the  '  classical '  age  of  Greece.  A  curious  inconsistency  occurs  to  me.  The 
skeleton  of  the  Achaean  Orestes,  Herodotus  tells  us  (i.  68),  was  found  at 
Tegea  in  a  coffin  over  ten  feet  long  ;  but  Sophocles  brings  on  to  the  stage,  in 
the  Electva,  the  (supposed)  ashes  of  Orestes  enclosed  in  an  urn.  The  supposed 
bones  of  Theseus,  who  belonged  to  the  Aegaean  age,  were  found  by  Cimon 
in  Scyros,  whence  they  were  transported  to  Athens. 

12 


B 


in 
o 

w    « 
o    S 

o 
w 

to 

w 
o 
w 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

not  holding  them.  Such  shields  are  found,  often  in  a  figure-of- 
eight  form,  on  other  Aegaean  (Mycenaean  and  Cretan)  gems 
and  seals.  This  great  man-covering,  ox-hide  shield  ("  as  great 
as  a  tower  ")  is,  indeed,  not  unknown  to  Homer,  but  as  a  rule 
the  Homeric  shield  seems  to  have  been  circular  and  smaller 
and  carried  by  a  handle,^  and  the  armour  (helm,  greaves, 
and  breastplate)  of  the  Homeric  warriors  was  of  bronze. 
Now  the  warriors  on  the  Mycenaean  '  Warrior  Vase  '  (Fig.  8) 
do  certainly  seem  to  carry  a  round,  or  rather  a  crescent-shaped, 
light  shield,  with  perhaps  a  rim  (avrv^)  of  metal,  but  the 
rest  of  their  equipment  is  surely  not  Homeric.  Allowance 
may  be  made  for  the  artlessness  of  the  painter,  but  surely  these 
fighters  are  not  the  well-greaved,  bronze-clad  and  bronze- 
helmed  Achaeans. 

On  an  old  painted  tombstone  found  in  the  lower  town  of 
Mycenae  there  is  depicted  underneath  a  row  of  warriors  a 
row  of  horses.  Moreover,  on  old  Aegaean  pottery  (see  Fig.  33) 
and  in  paintings  found  at  Tiryns  and  on  gems  one  finds  horses, 
and  also  warriors  in  primitive  two-horsed  chariots  with  wicker 
breastwork.  Does  this,  it  may  be  asked,  point  to  an  age  after 
the  Achaean  invasion  ?  I  think  not.  It  is  evident  that  the 
horse  was  introduced  into  Greece  before  the  coming  of  the 
Achaeans,  and  probably  the  ancient  myths  that  describe  the 
wars  between  Thessalian  I^apithae  and  the  Centaurs  are  a 
reminiscence  of  a  very  early  appearance  of  horsemen  from  the 
north.  The  myth  of  Pegasus,  too  (connected  with  Perseus 
and  the  Medusa),  presupposes  a  knowledge  of  the  horse. 

[It  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  the  horse  is  said  not  to 
be  found  in  early  Egyptian  art.  Possibly  it  was  introduced 
by  the  Shepherd  Kings,  about  1800.  It  is  first  mentioned  in 
the  Bible  in  connexion  with  Joseph  and  Jacob,  who  died  in 
Hgypt  (see  Gen.  xlvii.  17  and  1.  9).  Joseph's  chariot  is  also 
mentioned  in  Gen.  xlvi.  29.     Joseph  probably  lived  under  the 

^  This  is  a  point  much  disputed.  Some  argue  from  the  apparent  incon- 
sistencies that  the  Iliad  is  a  poem  of  mixed  authorship  and  diverse  ages. 
The  small  shield  was  invented  by  the  Carians,  according  to  Herodotus  (i.  171). 
The  huge  shield  of  Ajax  in  Homer  has  seven  layers  of  ox-hide,  and  must  have 
been  of  enormous  weight. 

13 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
last  of  the  Shepherd  Kings.      Abraham,  who  visited  Egypt 
about  the  year  2000,  was  given  sheep  and  asses  and  camels  by 
Pharaoh,  but  no  horses  are  mentioned.] 

But  to  return  to  the  subject  of  Mycenaean  dress.  In  the 
*  siege-scene '  there  are  women  standing  on  the  very  solidly 
and  regularly  built  rampart.  They  seem  to  be  applauding 
their  defenders  and  deriding  the  foe.  Their  dress  is  not  easy 
to  discern  ;   but  on  the  gold  ring  (Figs.  7  and  28)  one  sees 


7.  From  a  Mycenaean  Goi<d  Ring 

distinctly  what  the  dress  of  the  Mycenaean  ladies  of  this  age 
was  like.  It  apparently  very  much  resembled  that  of  fashion- 
able dames  of  modern  times,  except  that  the  whole  bust  seems 
to  have  been  often  uncovered. 

Now  in  Homer  the  dress  of  the  women  is  entirely  different. 
Instead  of  rich-embroidered  jackets  or  blouses  {vQiy  decolletees 
sometimes,  or  conspicuous  for  their  absence)  and  heavily 
flounced  skirts  and  lofty  coiffures  of  hair,  the  Achaean  ladies 
wore  a  thin  ^  chiton  (tunic,  chemise)  and  an  ample  over-garment 

1  Even  the  chiton  of  Odysseus  was  as  soft  and  glossy  as  the  inner  skin  of  an 
onion.     See  Note  B,  *  Dress.' 

14 


8.  The  '  Warrior  Vase 


9.  Goi^DKN  Mask  from  Mycenae 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

(peplos  or  pharos)  of  lighter  or  thicker  stuff,  according  to  the 
season,  confined  round  the  waist  by 
a  zone,  and  fastened  over  the  shoul- 
ders and  down  the  side  by  brooches. 
(The  peplos  given  to  Penelope  by  a 
suitor  had  twelve  of  such  brooches  ; 
and  it  is  remarkable  that  scarcely 
one  has  been  found  among  all  the 
Mycenaean  treasures.)  Over  the 
head  they  wore  a  coif  of  soft,  glisten- 
ing tissue  {Od.  i.  354),  and  above  this 
sometimes  a  large  veil  (Od.  v.  232). 
The  men,  moreover,  when  not  in 
armour  were  not  content  with  the 
bathing-drawers  sort  of  garment 
which  we  often  find  as  the  only 
article  of  dress  in  Aegaean  por- 
traiture, but  even  such  people  as 
swineherds  wore  the  tunic  (chiton) 
and  a  mantle  or  cloak  (chlaina, 
pharos).  The  tunic  was  fastened 
round  the  waist  by  a  belt  (zoster). 
Thus  the  dress,  both  of  men  and  of 
women,  of  these  Mycenaeans,  as  far 
as  we  can  judge  from  the  evidence 
supplied  by  excavation,  was  very 
different  from  that  of  the  Homeric 
Achaeans. 

(3)  The  remains  of  various  palaces 
and  other  buildings  discovered  at 
Mycenae,  Tiryns,  and  other  places 
where  the  relics  (such  as  pottery) 
make  us  suspect  a  similar  '  My- 
cenaean '  civilization  are  in  some 
respects  like  the  Homeric  palaces, 
and  a  decorative  material  men-  ^°-  Mycknaean  Dagger 
tioned  by  Homer  (cyan,  or  blue  glass-paste)  has  been  found. 

IS 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
These    buildings,   however,   are   possibly  not  Aegaean,    but 

Achaean. 

(4)  Among  the  weapons  dis- 
covered at  Mycenae  are  two 
daggers  (Figs.  10  and  11)  the  blades 
of  which  are  most  skilfully  inlaid 
with  gold  and  silver  and  a  dark 
substance  on  a  ground  of  enamelled 
bronze.  It  is  true  that  we  find 
something  similar  in  Homer,  whose 
'  Shield  of  Achilles  '  and  '  Brooch 
of  Odysseus  '  and  '  Belt  of  Hera- 
cles,' as  well  as  his  descriptions 
of  the  process  of  inlaying,  testify 
to  high  skill  in  the  art.  But  here 
again  we  have  the  loin-cloths  and 
the  figure-of-eight  shield  (in  the 
lion-hunt),  and  a  scene  which 
reminds  one  much  more  of  Egypt 
or  Crete  than  of  Homer,  namely, 
a  representation  of  cats,  or  ichneu- 
mons, hunting  ducks  amidst  the 
papyrus  on  the  banks  of  a  river 
that  may  be  meant  for  the  Nile. 
There  was  discovered  at  Thebes  in 
Egypt  a  very  similar  wall-painting ; 
but  the  art  of  the  Mycenae  dagger 
is  distinctly  not  Egyptian  :  it  is 
evidently  native  work,  and  is  a 
striking  evidence  of  the  high 
development  which  the  art  of 
the  metal  -  worker  had  already 
reached  among  the  pre-Achaean 
Greeks. 

(5)  But  still  more  striking  as 
works     of    art    are    two     golden 

cups  (Fig.  13)  which  were   found,  not   at  Mycenae,  but   at 
16 


II.  Mycenakan  Dagger 


12.  Goi^DEN  Discs  and  Shrine 


13.  Goi^DEN  Cups  from  Vaphio 


16 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

Vapliio/  near  the  ancient  capital  of  I^aconia,  Amyclae.  The 
skill,  both  in  design  and  execution,  with  which  the  scene 
(perhaps  the  capture  of  wild  bulls)  is  wrought  is  astonishing. 
'*  We  see  here,  as  in  the  Mycenae  daggers,  the  highest  attain- 
ments of  a  mature  art,  not  the  promising  attempts  of  one  that 
is  yet  in  its  infancy.  .  .  .  They  in  no  way  resemble  the 
often  successful  but  always  tentative  experiments  of  an 
archaic  Greek  artist."  - 

How  are  we  to  explain  the  existence  of  such  art  at  such  an 
epoch  in  Greece  ?  There  are,  I  think,  only  two  possible 
explanations  :  either  these  folk  of  golden  Mycenae,  whose 
warriors  were,  when  clad  at  all,  clad  and  armed  so  differently 
from  the  Homeric  Achaeans,  and  whose  women-folk  were 
bedizened  like  the  fashionable  dames  of  latter-day  Europe, 
not  only  possessed  wealth  and  an  abundance  of  gold  (which 
assuredly  was  not  produced  by  the  Peloponnese,  or  any  other 
part  of  Greece)  and  were  in  a  high  state  of  material  civilization, 
but  also  must  have  been  the  heirs  of  an  age  of  art — for  such  works 
as  these  Vaphio  cups  presume  a  long  artistic  training  ;  ^  or  else 
these  cups  are  not  a  native  product,  but  were  imported  from 
some  land  where  art  had  flourished  for  a  long  period.  This  land 
could  not  have  been  Assyria  or  Phoenicia  or  Egypt,  for  there 
is  no  trace  whatever  of  the  special  characteristics  of  Oriental 
or  Egyptian  art  in  this  splendid  repousse  work,  which  is  like 
some  chef-d'ceuvre  of  Benvenuto  CelHni  rather  than  a  relic  of 
antiquity.  "  The  design,"  says  Professor  E.  Gardner,  "  which 
is  all  round  the  outside  of  the  cups,  is  beaten  up  from  behind 
into  bold  relief  and  finished  with  a  chisel  in  front ;  the  repousse 
plates  are  backed  with  others  which  are  turned  over  at  the 
back,  so  as  to  hold  in  the  reliefs."  If  not  native  Mycenaean 
work,  and  if  not  Assyrian,  Phoenician,  or  Egyptian,  whence 
could  these  cups  have  come  ? 

1  In  a  great  vaulted  tomb  that  had  been  brought  to  light  by  a  landslip— 
perhaps  the  tomb  of  some  Pelopid  lord  of  lyaconia. 

2  Gardner's  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture. 

8  If  Dr.  Flinders  Petrie  is  right  in  tracing  the  periodical  rise  and  decline  of 
art  by  means  of  sculpture  and  in  assigning  about  2000  years  to  such  periods, 
it  would  seem  that  the  Vaphio  cups  were  the  product  of  an  art  at  least  1000 
years  old. 

B  17 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Crete 

There  can  be  only  one  answer.  They  must  have  come  from 
Crete,  or  must  have  been  the  product  of  Cretan  workmanship, 
lyong  before — perhaps  for  a  thousand  years  before — the  days  of 
those  ancient  pre- Achaean  kings  whose  bones  were  unearthed 
at  Mycenae  there  had  existed  in  Crete  a  civiHzation  which  has 
only  of  late  years  been  brought  to  light,  and  which  we  now 
know  to  have  produced  artistic  work  of  a  quality  no  less 
admirable  than  that  of  the  Vaphio  cups,  and  to  have  passed 
its  highest  development  before  the  era  of  *  Mycenaean ' 
civilization — which  civilization  seems  to  have  been  at  its 
highest  and  to  have  extended  over  a  great  part  of  the  Aegaean 
islands  and  over  parts  of  Northern  Greece,  and  to  Cyprus  and 
Rhodes,  about  1500  to  1200.  This  far  more  ancient  Cretan 
civilization,  evidences  of  which,  discovered  during  the  last 
dozen  years,  take  us  back  to  the  Stone  Age  (say  3000  B.C.  at 
the  very  least),  is  only  indirectly  connected  with  the  history 
of  the  Hellenic  race  (if  one  uses  the  word  history  in  its  ordinary 
sense) ,  but  it  is  of  very  great  interest  and  importance  in  regard 
to  artistic  and  rehgious  matters.  I  shall  therefore  devote  a 
short  space  to  its  consideration. 

The  excavations  in  Crete  that  have  opened  up  for  us  a  vista 
into  so  vast  a  realm  of  the  past — very  much  more  distant 
than  that  revealed  by  the  Mycenaean  and  the  Trojan  researches 
of  Schliemann  and  his  successors — were  first  seriously  begun 
in  1901  by  Dr.  (now  Sir  Arthur)  Kvans,  who  went  to  Crete 
primarily  in  the  hope  of  discovering  further  evidence  of  an 
ancient  written  language,  his  curiosity  having  been  awakened 
at  Athens  by  Cretan  seals  engraved  with  unknown  hieroglyphic 
and  linear  characters.  After  many  difficulties  he  was  enabled 
to  make  extensive  excavations  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  city 
of  Cnossus  (or  Knosos),  which  Homer  mentions  as  the  chief 
of  ninety  (or  a  hundred)  towns  of  Crete,  and  where  the  famous 
artist  and  inventor  Daedalus  built  the  lyabyrinth  for  King 
Minos,  and  a  beautiful  dancing-ground  for  the  princess,  fair- 
haired  Ariadne.  Ere  long  the  excavators  unearthed  the 
foundations  of  a  very  large  palace,  and  a  vast  complex  of 
18 


14-  AcROPOi<is,  Mycenae 


15.  Excavations  of  Pai<ace,  Cnossus 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

buildings  which  are  beHeved  by  some  to  have  formed  the 
celebrated  I^abyrinth.  Store-rooms  were  found  with  rows  of 
enormous  jars,  and  shrines  with  idols  and  other  sacred  objects, 
and  a  great  hall,  and  remains  of  frescoes,  still  bright  with  colour, 
and  a  handsome  stone  seat  which  has  been  dignified  with  the 
title  '  The  Throne  of  Minos,'  and  finely  worked  vessels  of 
syenite  and  marble  and  alabaster  and  steatite  (soapstone), 
and  a  great  quantity  of  tablets  covered  with  inscriptions 
of  which  no  single  word  has  been  satisfactorily  deciphered, 
and,  of  course,  a  great  deal  of  pottery,  some  of  it  dating 
probably  from  at  least  3000 — indeed,  some  of  the  ancient 
black  pottery  (hke  Etruscan  bucchero)  found  among  the 
Stone  Age  deposits  ^  on  the  hill  of  Cephala,  near  Cnossus,  may 
date  from  very  much  earlier  times,  possibly  from  8000. 

At  Phaestus,  on  the  south  side  of  the  island,  and  at  Gortyna 
and  Gournia  and  Hagia  Triada  numerous  finds  have  been  made 
that  have  supplemented  and  confirmed  the  evidence  of  Cnossus. 
Any  day  important  discoveries  may  bring  us  further  knowledge 
and  upset  some  of  our  theories. 

lyct  us  briefly  consider  the  present  evidence,  and  then  see 
what  conclusions  may  reasonably  be  drawn  from  it.  Our 
illustrations  will  give  us  a  fair  conception  of  some  of  the 
relics. 

The  walls  of  the  palace  (especially  in  the  great  Hall  of  the 
Double  Axes  ^)  show  evident  signs  of  a  great  conflagration. 
Possibly  the  palace  and  city  were  sacked  twice  during  the 
long  era  of  this  so-called  Minoan  civilization,  and  almost 
everything  portable  that  was  worth  carrying  off  (such  as 
precious  metals)  has  disappeared.  Of  what  remains  probably 
the  thousands  of  inscribed  tablets,  none  of  which  has  yet 
been  deciphered,  will  ultimately  prove  the  most  valuable  to 
the  historian,  if  only  some  bihngual  monument  should  be 
discovered  that  will  enable  us  to  read  and  understand  the  old 

1  These  deposits  (beneath  the  first  stratum  of  the  Bronze  Age,  which 
began  about  3000)  are  about  20  feet  deep,  which  gives,  according  to 
the  usual  calculations  of  archaeologists,  a  period  of  at  least  six  thousand 
years. 

"  For  the  '  I^abrys  '  see  Section  B. 

19 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Cretan  language,  as  the  Rosetta  stone,  with  its  Greek  trans- 
lation of  a  hieroglyphic  inscription,  enabled  ChampolHon  to 
read  the  ancient  language  of  Egypt,  and  as  a  list  of  Persian 
kings  proved  the  key  to  the  cuneiform  script,  and  as  the 
cuneiform  version  of  the  treaty  between  Ramses  II  and 
King  Chetasor  taught  us  to  decipher  Hittite  monuments. 
But  at  present  these  Cretan  tablets  are  a  closed  book  to  us, 
and  it  is  perhaps  the  pictures  of  these  Minoan  people  that  most 
deeply  interest  one.  In  the  '  Cup-bearer '  (Fig.  i6)  we  have 
a  very  striking  portrait  (perhaps  some  3500  years  old)  of 
one  of  these  Minoan  Cretans — for  the  features  are  most 
certainly  not  Oriental  or  Egyptian.  "  The  flesh-tint,"  says 
Sir^Arthur  Evans,  "is  of  a  deep  reddish  brown  ;  the  limbs  are 
finely  moulded,  though  the  waist,  as  usual  in  Mycenaean 
fashions,  is  tightly  drawn  in  by  a  silver-mounted  girdle.  .  .  . 
The  profile  is  almost  classically  Greek,  and  the  physiognomy 
has  certainly  no  Semitic  cast.  There  was  something  very 
impressive  in  this  vision  of  brilHant  youth  and  of  male  beauty 
recalled  after  so  long  an  interval  to  the  upper  air  from  what  had 
been,  till  yesterday,  a  forgotten  world."  The  youth  is  bearing, 
says  Mr.  Baikie,  a  "  gold-mounted  silver  cup.  His  loin-cloth 
is  decorated  with  a  beautiful  quatrefoil  pattern ;  he  wears 
a  silver  ear-ornament,  silver  rings  on  the  neck  and  upper  arm, 
and  on  the  wrist  a  bracelet  with  an  agate  gem."  Other 
frescoes  contain  similar  youths,  a  lady  (perhaps  a  queen)  in 
a  magnificent  dress,  and  many  other  figures,  as  well  as  scenes 
from  bull-fights.  In  these  scenes  (found  also  on  seals),  athletes, 
generally  boys  and  girls,  are  depicted  as  awaiting  the  charge 
of  the  infuriated  animal  or  catching  it  by  the  horns  and  turning 
a  somersault,  or  vaulting,  over  its  back.  The  bull  figures 
largely  in  Minoan  art.  As  will  be  seen  later,  the  animal 
was  intimately  connected  with  the  old  Cretan  rehgion,  a 
fact  which  forms  a  '*  solid  point  of  truth  "  in  the  legends 
of  Theseus  and  the  Minotaur.  The  connexion  between 
Mycenaean  and  Cretan  art  and  rehgious  practices  is,  more- 
over, graphically  confirmed  by  a  fresco  found  at  Tiryns, 
near  Mycenae,  and  by  various  gems  or  seals  where  similar 
20 


i6.  The;  Cup-bearkr,  Cnossus 


20 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

scenes  are  depicted.  It  is  just  possible,  too,  that  the  Vaphio 
cups  may  represent  a  scene  of  *  bull-grappling '  {ravpoKaOdxpia) 
by  athletes. 

The  Minoan  ladies  are  pictured  (as  we  find  also  in  Egyptian 
art  and  on  early  Greek  vases)  with  a  skin  of  chalky  white- 
ness. They  are  dressed  in  the  same  w^ay  as  the  Mycenaean 
women  already  described — with  towering  coiffures,  tight 
bodices,  often  covering  but  little  of  the  bust,  richly  embroidered 
heavily  pleated  and  flounced  skirts,  and  often  with  almost 


17.  Acrobats  and  Ei,ands{?) 

incredible  wasp-waists.     Such  figures  are  found  both  in  colour 
and  also  incised  on  seals  (see  Figs.  7  and  28). 

Besides  frescoes  there  were  found  figures  and  other  objects 
in  terra-cotta,  faience,  ivory,  and  other  material,  and  brightly 
coloured  reliefs  in  plaster,  one  of  which  is  a  hfe-sized  bull's 
head  (perhaps  once  a  part  of  a  complete  bull) .  It  is  very  finely 
modelled  and  coloured,  and  testifies  to  as  highly  developed  art 
as  do  the  Vaphio  cups.  Also  many  of  the  Minoan  vessels 
are  of  artistic  workmanship.  One  of  the  steatite  vessels, 
once  probably  covered  with  gold-leaf,  represents  a  boxing 
match,  another  a  company  of  soldiers  with  their  ofiicers 
(most  interesting  as  a  contrast  to  the  Mycenae '  Warrior  Vase  '), 
and  another  (Fig.  24)  a  band  of  people  in  procession  carrying 
what  may  be  palm-branches  and  preceded  by  a  huge  figure  in 

21 


L 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
a  curious  plaited  costume.  It  is  generally  called  a  procession 
of  harvesters,  but  the  presence  of  a  man  with  a  sistrum  (metal 
rattle)  seems  rather  to  point,  I  think,  to  some  religious  ceremony 
— possibly  a  procession  of  Cretan  Curetes,  the  priests  of  the 
Cretan  Zeus. 

The  painted  stone  sarcophagus  found  at  Hagia  Triada 
(Fig.  25)  is  not  a  specimen  of  good  Minoan  art  (possibly  it 
dates  after  the  collapse  of  Cretan  power  and  art,  about  1400), 
but  is  intensely  interesting  as  an  illustration  of  religious  rites. 
I  shall  speak  of  it  again  later,  together  with  various  idols, 
seals  with  pictures  of  demons  (genii),  and  other  objects. 

The  only  other  rehc  that  I  shall  here  describe  is  a  very 
beautiful  table  (Fig.  19),  which  is  believed  to  have  been  the 
board  on  which  some  game  like  draughts  (mentioned  in  Homer) 
used  to  be  played.  Its  framework  was  of  gold-plated  ivory, 
and  it  was  richly  set  with  crystals,  blue  cyan,  gold,  and  silver, 
and  decorated  with  reliefs  of  flowers  and  shells  of  great 
beauty. 

Besides  such  relics  we  have  in  the  vast  ruins  a  most  impressive 
testimony  to  the  greatness  of  Crete  in  this  so-called  Minoan 
age.  Whether  or  not  the  excavators  have  brought  once  more 
to  the  light  of  day  the  veritable  lyabyrinth  of  Cnossus  or 
the  actual  dancing-ground  made  by  Daedalus  for  fair-haired 
Ariadne,  they  have,  at  any  rate,  proved  that  the  ancient 
traditions  about  the  great  naval  power  of  the  Cretans  are  not 
merely  empty  myths,  and  they  have  shown  it  to  be  highly 
probable  that  even  the  Minotaur  fable  is  an  imaginative  version 
of  facts,  doubtless  some  of  them  of  terribly  tragic  nature, 
connected  with  Cretan  bull-worship  and  the  bull-grappling 
spectacles,  in  which  the  boy  and  girl  athletes  must  have  often 
lost  their  lives. 

Thus  it  seems  proved  that  in  Crete  a  civiHzed  and  at  one  time 
powerful  nation  existed  from  at  least  3000  (possibly  from  much 
earHer)  down  to  about  1350,  when  some  great  calamity  befell 
it,  from  which  it  never  recovered. 

Now  both  Thucydides  and  Herodotus  speak  of  the  ancient 
naval  supremacy  of  Crete  under  a  king  Minos.  Old  myths 
22 


8.    '  Throne  of  Minos 


19.  MiNOAN  Game-board 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

tell  of  two  Cretan  kings  of  this  name.  One  was  the  son  of 
Zeus,  a  great  lawgiver,  who  after  his  earthly  life  was  made 
a  judge  (as  Homer  describes  him)  in  the  nether  world. 

The  other  Minos  was  said  to  be  his  grandson.  He  was 
the  husband  of  Pasiphae,  and  in  his  reign  Daedalus  built 
the  lyabyrinth  for  the  Minotaur,  whom  the  Athenian  hero 
Theseus  slew.  Homer  also  speaks  of  this  later  Minos.  He 
calls  him  the  father  of  Ariadne  and  Deucalion  and  the  grand- 
father of  the  Cretan  hero  Idomeneus,  who  fought  at  Troy,  and 
says  that  he  conversed  as  a  famihar  friend  with  Zeus,  and 
reigned  ''  for  a  space  of  nine  years." 

Now  it  is  almost  certain  that  '  Minos  '  was,  like  '  Pharaoh,' 
a  royal  title,  and  that  these  kings  of  Crete  or  Cnossus  were 
believed  to  be  descended  from  the  great  Cretan  god,  the 
Dictaean  Zeus,  and  it  is  thought  that  the  king,  as  High-priest 
of  Zeus,  went  up  once  every  nine  years  to  '  converse  '  with  the 
deity  in  the  Dictaeatr  cave  and  to  receive  his  laws  (like  Moses 
on  Sinai).  Moreover,  research  and  excavation  have  made  it 
clear  that  the  old  Cretan  religion  was  closely  associated 
with  the  bull,  as  is  intimated  by  the  myths  of  Kuropa  ^  and 
Pasiphae.  Bulls  were  doubtless  sacrificed  to  Zeus,  and  the 
king-priest  seems  to  have  performed  ceremonies  in  the  disguise 
of  a  bull-headed  monster — a  fact  that  is  probably  the  real 
explanation  of  the  Minotaur  and  Pasiphae  myths.  By  some 
it  is  beheved  that  the  priest-king,  when  he  entered  the  Dictaean 
cave  at  the  end  of  his  nine-years  reign,  was  walled  up  there, 
or  slain,  2  and  it  is  evident  that  at  the  bull-grapphng  spectacles 
given  in  honour  of  the  Bull-god  many  human  victims  were 
done  to  death,  mostly  youths  and  maidens  (as  in  the  case 
of  the  sacrifices  of  first-born  children  to  Moloch).  It  seems, 
therefore,  that  behind  these  old  myths  of  the  '  Bull  of  Minos  ' 

1  Europa,  according  to  the  myth,  was  carried  ofE  by  Zeus,  in  the  form  of  a 
bull,  from  Phoenicia,  and  it  was  formerly  assumed  that  the  bull-headed  Cretan 
deity  was  the  Phoenician  Baal  or  Moloch.  Doubtless  both  the  Minotaur  and 
the  Talos  myth  do  seem  to  point  to  the  bull-headed  Moloch  and  human 
burnt  sacrifice  ;  but  at  present  the  Phoenicians,  like  the  Pelasgians,  are  in 
disrepute,  and  it  is  asserted  that  Phoenician  influence  on  Crete  and  Greece 
was  much  later  and  much  less  important  than  was  formerly  supposed. 

*  As  happened  to  the  Pharaoh-priest  at  the  '  Sed  '  festival  in  Egypt. 

23 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

and  Theseus  and  the  Athenian  youths  and  maidens  sent  every 
nine  years  (as  Plutarch  tells  us)  to  be  given  over  as  victims  to 
this  Minotaur,  there  is  a  good  deal  of  fact,  and  when  Thucydides 
(who  strongly  condemns  "  careless  investigation  of  truth  ") 
tells  us  that  Minos  of  Crete  was  the  first  monarch  to  acquire 
a  navy  and  that  he  "  made  himself  master  of  the  greater 
part "  of  the  Aegaean  and  "  swept  piracy  from  the  sea/'  we  need 
no  longer  doubt  his  accuracy  nor  the  possibility  of  trustworthy 
traditions  of  the  great  Minoan  Empire  having  reached  the  age 
of  Pericles.  That  it  was  an  empire  founded  on  naval  supremacy 
is  remarkably  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  Cnossus  possessed  no 
fortifications.  Moreover,  the  existence  of  numerous  settlements 
named  Minoa  on  the  Mediterranean  shores  seems  to  prove  it. 
One  of  these  was  on  the  island  oil  Megara.  In  the  Theseus  myth 
Minos  lays  even  Athens  under  tribute. 

But  before  we  draw  conclusions  in  regard  to  this  Minoan 
race  and  its  connexion  with  the  early  history  of  the  Hellenic 
nation  there  is  another  group  of  evidence  to  be  considered, 
namely,  that  which  Egypt  ^  suppHes. 

Egypt  and  Crete 

The  earliest  evidences  of  what  is  called  Minoan  civilization 
in  Crete  are  perhaps  a  little  later  than  the  age  (c.  3500)  in  which 
King  Mena  is  said  to  have  founded  the  first  of  the  Egyptian 
dynasties,^  and  the  final  fall  of  the  Minoan  Empire,  about 
1350,  corresponds  with  the  end  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty. 
In  the  age  of  the  first  two  dynasties  there  was  doubtless  some 
intercourse  between  Egypt  and  Crete,  but  the  only  possible 
evidence  of  it  consists  in  fragments  of  bucchero  (black  pottery) 
which  have  been  found  in  very  ancient  Egyptian  tombs. 
This  pottery  is  believed  to  have  come  from  Crete.  On  the 
other  hand,  very  ancient  vessels  of  syenite,  some  of  which  have 

^  There  is  only  the  very  faintest  evidence,  if  indeed  it  can  be  accepted  as 
evidence,  of  any  intercourse  in  these  ages  between  Crete  (or  any  other  Aegaean 
land)  and  Babylonia  or  Assyria,  and  (what  seems  strange  considering  the 
great  antiquity  of  Sidon)  very  much  less  Phoenician  influence  than  was 
formerly  believed  to  have  existed. 

2  Others  put  this  back  some  two  thousand  years  to  5500. 

24 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

been  found   at  Cnossus,   are  believed  to  have  come   from 

Egypt.     From  the  era  of  Cheops  and  other  Pyramid-builders 

(Ilird    to    Xlth    Dynasties)    there    is    considerably     more 

evidence  of  a  similar  nature ;  but  it  was  not  till  about  2000, 

during  the  Xllth  Dynasty,  that  the  Cretan  ware,  especially 

the   beautiful    '  Kamares '    porcelain,    seems    to    have    been 

largely  imported  into  Egypt.     Indubitable  specimens  of  this 

polychrome  Minoan  ware  have  been  discovered  in  Egyptian 

tombs  of  this  period,  together  with  cylinders  inscribed  with 

the  name  of  Amenemhat  III,  the  last  of  the  dynasty.     It  was 

this  great  king  who  built  the  lyabyrinth  near  I^ake  Moeris  in 

Egypt  which  very  possibly  was  imitated  at  Cnossus  by  King 

Minos — unless  indeed  the  Egyptian  I^abyrinth  was  suggested 

by  the  Cretan.  ^ 

Then  follows  the  Dark  Age  of  Egyptian  history  (Xlllth  to 

XVIIth  Dynasties),  during  which  for  some  five  centuries  the 

Hyksos  (a  Canaanite  or  African  nomad  race)  were  the  lords  of 

Egypt.     Of  these  so-called  '  Shepherd  Kings  '  the  only  one  at 

all  known  is  Khyan  ('  Embracer  of  I^ands  ').     His  cartouche, 

carved  on  a  lion,  has  been  found  even  at  Bagdad,  and  at  Cnossus 

the  lid  of  an  alabaster  box  has  been  discovered  bearing  his 

name.     After  the  Dark  Age  and  the  domination  of  the  Hyksos 

(broken  by  the  Wars  of  Independence)  we  have  the  famous 

XVIIIth  Dynasty,   founded  by  Aahmes  in   1580.     To  this 

dynasty  belonged  the  great  monarchs    Queen    Hatshepsut, 

King  Tutmes,    and  Amenhotep  III   (Fig.   3),  who  extended 

Egyptian    trade    and    influence    into    distant    countries.     In 

the   numerous   inscribed   and   painted   Egyptian   records   of 

this  era  there  figure  many  foreign  races,  and  among  these  is 

one,  that  of  the  Kephtiu,  which  formerly  used  to  be  regarded 

as  Phoenician,  but  which  is  evidently  Cretan.     In  feature,  in 

dress,  and  in  the  high  coiffure  with  long  down-hanging  tresses, 

these  painted  Kephtiu  bear  a  most  striking  resemblance  to 

the  type  that  we  have  in  the  '  Cup-bearer  '  (Fig.  16),  and  the 

^  This  Egyptian  lyabyrinth,  with  its  4500  rooms,  was  seen  by  Herodotus, 
who  describes  (ii.  148)  the  enormous  complex  as  the  most  wonderful  building  on 
earth,  "  surpassing  the  Pyramids."  Evidently  this  lyabyrinth  was  very  much 
larger  than  anything  discovered  in  Crete. 

25 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

name  Kephtiu,  which  is  said  to  mean  '  the  men  from  beyond  ' 
{i.e.  from  beyond  the  sea),  is  one  that  well  suits  the  Cretans. 
Also  the  fact  that  these  Kephtiu  are  depicted  carrying,  as 
tribute  or  gifts,  gold  and  silver  vessels  very  similar  to  the 
Vaphio  cups  confirms  one's  behef  that  they  are  Cretans, 
all  the  more  when  one  remembers  that  the  era  of  this 
XVIIIth  Dynasty  corresponds  to  that  of  the  great  Palace 
at  Cnossus,  with  its  wonderful  frescoes  and  other  signs  of  an 
advanced  civilization.  Moreover,  the  evidence  from  pottery  is 
here  very  strong,  great  quantities  of  Cretan  ware  of  this  period 
and  of  the  succeeding  centuries  having  been  found  in  Egypt. 

It  is  very  striking  that  about  1400,  the  era  of  the  sack  of 
Cnossus  and  the  fall  of  the  Minoan  Empire,  the  Kephtiu  suddenly 
disappear  from  Egyptian  records,  and  that  some  100  years 
later,  about  the  time  of  the  Biblical  Exodus,  the  names  of  a 
number  of  strange  northern  tribes  are  found,  among  whom  are 
the  *  Aqayuasha  ' — very  possibly  the  Achaeans. 

Not  much  later,  again  {c.  1200 — just  about  the  time  of  the 
Trojan  War),  a  great  host  of  '  people  of  the  sea,'  leagued 
with  the  Hittites,  threatened  Egypt  from  the  north-east,  but 
they  were  defeated  and  dispersed  by  Ramses  III.  Among 
these  invaders  are  mentioned  Danauna  (possibly  Danai,  i.e. 
Argives)  and  Pulosathu,  who  were  probably  Cretan  refugees  and 
identical  with  the  Kephtiu — perhaps  the  Biblical  Philistines  of 
Kaphtor.i 

Egypt  and  Mycenae 

During  the  later  period  of  Minoan  civilization  (say  1700-1400) 
the  Mycenaean  civilization  was  probably  at  its  highest, ^  and 

1  See  Jer.  xlvii.  4  and  Gen.  x.  14.  After  their  defeat  by  Ramses  these 
Pulosathu  (Pelasgians  ?  Philistines  ?)  seem  to  have  settled  in  Palestine,  and 
it  is  remarkable  that  Cretan  pottery  is  said  to  have  been  discovered  at  their 
chief  town,  Gath.  Perhaps  Goliath  was  a  Cretan,  and  perhaps,  after  all,  the 
Philistines  were  of  a  people  that  for  some  reasons  may  claim  to  be  children  of 
Light  no  less  than  the  Israelites — artistically  anyhow. 

2  Not  only  are  traces  of  '  Mycenaean '  civilization  found  in  Aegaean  lands 
and  islands,  as  well  as  in  Northern  Greece,  and  even  in  Sicily  and  Spain,  but 
it  seems  that  there  were  Mycenaean  kings  in  Cyprus  about  1450.  And  yet 
Mycenae  was  evidently  not  a  great  naval  power. 

26 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

to  this  period  may  belong  the  shaft-tombs  on  the  acropolis 
of  Mycenae.  Amongst  the  relics  there  discovered  we  have 
already  noted  an  evident  Nile  scene  on  an  inlaid  dagger-blade. 
But  besides  this  the  cartouche  of  the  Egyptian  Amenhotep  III 
(Fig.  3),  the  great  king  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty,  was  found 
in  one  of  the  later  vaulted  tombs,  as  well  as  several  pieces 
of  porcelain  inscribed  with  his  name.  Amenhotep  reigned 
from  1414  to  1380,  so  it  seems  likely  that  these  later  Mycenaean 
tombs  were  built  about  1400.  The  old  Aegaean  (Pelopid  ?) 
kings  of  the  earher  tombs  were  probably  supreme  at  Mycenae, 
and  in  the  rest  of  the  Peloponnese,  until  about  this  date,  when 
Mycenae  seems  to  have  been  conquered  by  some  foreign  enemy. 
Shortly  afterwards  the  same  enemy  seems  to  have  sacked 
Cnossus. 

General  Conclusions 

The  question  now  naturally  arises,  who  were  these  invaders  ? 
And  this  question  leads  us  to  a  still  larger  one,  namely,  what 
conclusions  can  we  from  all  this  evidence  reasonably  draw  in 
regard  to  the  early  inhabitants  of  Greece,  and  those  migrations 
and  invasions  and  heroes  and  dynasties  of  which  Greek  myths 
tell  so  much,  but  which  till  lately  were  generally  regarded  as 
quite  worthless  fables  ? 

Firstly,  then,  who  were  these  invaders  who  seem  to  have 
conquered  Mycenae  and  some  years  later  to  have  sacked 
Cnossus  ? 

The  old  tradition,  handed  down  to  us  by  Herodotus,  says 
that  when  Daedalus  made  himself  wings  and  thus  escaped 
to  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily  he  was  pursued  by  Minos,  and  that, 
Minos  having  come  to  a  tragic  end  in  Sicily,  a  great  host  of 
Cretans  set  forth  in  ships  to  avenge  his  death  ;  but  they  failed 
in  their  object  and  lost  their  fleet  in  a  tempest  and  founded 
Hyria  in  Southern  Italy,  where  they  changed  their  name  to 
Messapian  lapygians.  Herodotus  also  learnt  from  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Praesos,  in  Crete,  that  after  this  national  disaster 
"  men  of  various  nations  flocked  to  Crete,  destitute  as  it  now 
was  of  inhabitants ;   but  none  came  in  such  numbers  as  the 

27 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
Greeks."     He  places  the  death  of  this  King  Minos  three  gene- 
rations before  the  Trojan  War,  say  in  1330 — i.e.  not  long  after 
the  time  when,  we  are  assured  by  modern  archaeologists, 
Cnossus  was  sacked  and  the  great  palace  burnt. 

What  truth  there  may  be  in  this  tale  of  a  Cretan-Sicilian 
expedition  one  cannot  say.  Possibly  it  represents  the  general 
exodus  of  Cretans  after  the  advent  of  "  men  of  various  nations  " 
from  over  the  sea.  Of  these  invaders,  according  to  Herodotus, 
the  Greeks  (Hellenes)  were  the  most  numerous,  and  among 
the  various  nations  which  inhabited  Crete  in  a  somewhat 
later,  post-Dorian,  age  the  first  that  Homer  mentions  are  the 
Achaeans,^  which  looks  as  if  then  they  were  still  the  paramount 
race. 

All  our  evidence,  I  think,  points  to  the  Achaeans  as  the 
conquerors  of  the  Mycenaeans  and  other  Aegaean  peoples, 
and  as  the  sackers  of  Cnossus,  and  points  to  the  period 
1400-1200  as  that  during  which  these  northern  invaders  (of 
whom  we  have  already  heard  much  in  connexion  with  the 
Homeric  age  and  the  sixth  city  of  Troy)  extended  their  conquests 
over  Greece  and  as  far  as  Crete.  That  these  Achaeans  (perhaps 
the  '  Aqayuasha '  of  Egyptian  records,  of  whom  we  have 
heard)  made  themselves  lords  not  only  of  mainland  Greece 
but  also  of  the  Aegaean,  and  perhaps  Crete,  seems  probable 
also  from  Homer's  statement  (quoted  by  Thucydides)  that 
Agamemnon,  the  great  Achaean  king,  ruled  not  only  over  all 
Argos  but  over  '  many  islands.' 

The  second  and  larger  question  which  we  must  endeavour 
to  answer  is,  what  conclusions  we  may  reasonably  accept 
in  regard  to  the  races  which  inhabited  Greece  before  the  advent 
of  the  Achaeans.  We  have  already  seen  that  they  were 
probably  a  dark-haired,  lithe-limbed  people,  such  as  we  find 
the  ancient  Cretans  to  be  depicted,  and  we  have  spoken  of 
them  as  the  '  Aegaean  '  race.  I^et  us  now  hear  what  old 
Greek  tradition  says  about  these  early  inhabitants  of  Greece, 
and  their  conquerors,  the  Achaeans. 

1  Od.  xix.  175.  He  mentions  also  aboriginal  Cretans,  Cydonians,  Pelasgians, 
and  the  (evidently  later)  Dorians. 

28 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

At  the  beginning  of  his  history  Thucydides,  after  speaking 
of  the  continual  migrations  of  the  tribes  of  ancient  Greece, 
mentions  the  '  Pelasgian  '  name  as  that  which  was  most  widely 
applied  to  these  tribes.  lyong  before  the  time  of  Thucydides 
these  Pelasgians  had  been  frequently  mentioned  by  Homer, 
who  speaks  of  them  in  Thessaly,  Boeotia,  Attica,  and  even 
in  the  Peloponnese,  and  also  in  Asia  Minor  (possibly  aboriginal 
Phrygians,  fighting  on  the  side  of  the  Trojans)  and  in  Crete 
He  gives  the  epithet '  divine  '  (heaven-descended  ?  aboriginal  ?) 
to  these  Pelasgians.  Moreover,  he  applies  the  epithet '  Pelas- 
gian '  to  the  northern  (Thessalian)  Argos,  and  to  the  Zeus  whose 
oracle  was  at  Dodona,  in  Epirus. 

Herodotus  also  tells  us  of  Pelasgians  who  built  the  old  walls 
of  the  Athenian  AcroiDolis,  and  it  seems  certain  that  the  original 
lords  of  what  was  later  the  Athenian  Acropolis  were  those 
Pelasgi   or   Gecropes  whom    later   '  autochthonous '   f  amiHes 

,  of  Athens  claimed  as  their  ancestors. 

I  It  seems  not  impossible  that  these  ancient  Pelasgians  were 
of  the  same  race  as  the  Etruscans  or  Tyrrhenians,  called 
Tyrseni  (perhaps  '  Tower  Men ')  by  the  Greeks.^  It  is  also 
not  impossible  that  the  Pulosathu  of  Crete  (the  PhiHstines?), 
of  whom  we  have  already  heard,  were  Pelasgians ;  and, 
lastly,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  Turusha,  one  of  the 
oversea  tribes  mentioned  as  having  invaded  Egypt  about  1300 
together  with  the  Aqayuasha  (Achaeans  ?),  were  these  Tyrseni 
or  Etruscans. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  not  surprising  that  formerly  all 
writers  on  Greece  accepted  the  word  *  Pelasgian '  as  the  most 
satisfactory  name  to  cover  the  unknown  tribes  inhabiting 

i   Greece  at  the  time  of  the  Achaean  invasions.     But  of  late 

j  ^  Hesiod  (c.  750),  or  some  early  imitator,  mentions  the  Tyrseni  of  Italy  and 
possibly  even  King  Latinus  !  The  Etruscans  called  themselves  *  Rasena.'  Some 
three  centuries  later  Herodotus  asserts  that  the  Tyrseni  of  Italy  came  from 
I^ydia,  and  also  that  Pelasgians  were  expelled  from  Athens  and  settled  in 
lyemnos.  Now  other  traditions  say  that  there  were  people  called  Tyrsenes 
in  Ivemnos,  who  were  believed  to  be  Tyrrhenians,  and  an  inscription  found 
in  I,emnos  is  said  to  show  similarities  to  old  Etruscan.  According  to  Pliny 
and  Varro,  there  was  a  great  I^abyrinth,  like  the  Cretan,  connected  with  the 
tomb  of  I^ars  Porsena  at  Clusium,  in  Etruria.     C/.  Thuc.  iv.  109. 

29 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
years  this  name  has  met  with  disfavour,  for  it  is  evident  that 
the  newly  discovered  '  Aegaean '  race  was  not  identical  with 
the  Pelasgic,  and  it  is  our  knowledge  of  this  so-called  Aegaean 
race  that  now  allows  us  to  reconstruct  and  repeople  to  some 
extent  that  obscure  *  mythical '  age  formerly  regarded  as 
unworthy  of  the  attention  of  the  historian. 

The  only  satisfactory  answer,  therefore,  that  we  can  give 
in  regard  to  the  pre- Achaean  inhabitants  of  Greece  is  this  : 
There  were  doubtless  also  other  peoples  (such  as  these  Pelas- 
gians),  but  in  the  southern  parts  of  Greece  the  main  race, 
and  the  only  race  that  we  really  know  anything  about  for 
certain,  was  this  Mycenaean,  or  Aegaean,  race,  to  which 
probably  the  Cretans  were  closely  related.  They  were  a  dark- 
haired,  long-headed  people,  not  of  Semitic  origin,  but  possibly 
with  some  affinity  to  the  Egyptians.  They  lived  in  Greece  in 
what  is  called  the  Bronze  Age — that  is,  before  iron  came  into 
general  use — and  perhaps  before  bronze  was  invented,  which 
could  not  have  been  until  tin  was  brought  from  western  lands 
(from  Spain,  and  perhaps  even  from  Britain) .  Before  tin  was 
procurable  to  mix  with  their  copper,  which  they  obtained 
in  abundance  from  Cyprus  and  also  from  Chalcis,  in  Euboea, 
they  were  obhged  to  make  their  weapons  and  tools  of  copper, 
or  of  stone  or  obsidian.  In  early  times  possibly  some  of  these 
Aegaean  folk  {e.g.  at  Orchomenus,  Tiryns,  and  other  marshy 
places)  dwelt  in  lake- villages,  like  the  Stone  Age  inhabitants  of 
other  parts  of  Europe.  The  northern  invaders,  the  Achaeans, 
seem  to  have  introduced  the  more  general  use  of  bronze  for 
weapons  and  armour.  Then,  about  1250,  iron,  which  hitherto 
had  been  among  Aegaean  peoples  a  rare  material  for  rings  and 
small  ornaments,  began  to  be  used  for  sharp-edged  tools  (as 
we  find  it  in  Homer) ,  and  gradually  won  its  way  into  general 
use.^  Possibly  the  arts  of  smelting  and  of  forging  iron  (graphi- 
cally described  in  the  Odyssey,  ix.  391)  may  have  been  intro- 
duced by  the  Achaeans  ;  but  the  metal  may  have  been  found 
less  commonly  by  them  in  Greece,  which  may  account  for  its 
comparatively  rare  mention  by  Homer. 

1  See  Hesiod's  Erga  for  these  various  Ages.  C/.  p.  105. 

30 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

During  this  Bronze  Age  (that  is,  before  the  advent  of  the 
northern  invaders)  there  were  in  Greece  doubtless  other 
important  cities,  besides  Mycenae  and  Tiryns  and  Amyclae 
and  Orchomenus,  inhabited  by  Aegaeans  or  Pelasgians  or 
whatever  else  we  may  call  these  early  races,  but,  except  in  a 
few  cases,  their  memorials  have  utterly  perished.  Of  Athens, 
however,  and  of  Thebes  we  have  some  remarkable  traditions. 

Athens  in  Pre-Dorian  Times 

On  account  of  the  poverty  of  its  soil,  as  Thucydides  tells  us, 
and  also  perhaps  on  account  of  the  more  warlike  character 
of  its  inhabitants,  Attica  seems  never  to  have  been  permanently 
conquered  by  invaders.  It  apparently  remained  (as  also 
Arcadia  in  the  Peloponnese)  finally  unoccupied  by  the 
Achaeans,^  and  the  ancient  Pelasgian  race  was  the  main  stock 
from  which  the  later  Athenians  sprang,  though  much  else 
was  grafted  upon  it.  Of  these  old  Pelasgian  aborigines  a 
relic  may  still  be  seen,  namely,  a  few  blocks  of  bluish  lime- 
stone which  formed  a  part  of  the  rampart  built  round  their 
citadel.  This  old  wall  was  by  the  later  Athenians  called  the 
*  Pelasgic '  or  '  Pelargic '  wall,  and  to  the  north-west  of  the 
Acropolis  was  an  open  space  called  the  '  Pelasgion,'  on  which 
it  was  forbidden  to  build,  until  at  the  beginning  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War  (431),  when  thousands  were  flocking  from  the 
country  into  the  city,  the  old  law  was  allowed  to  lapse. ^ 
Herodotus  tells  of  old  Pelasgian  kings  of  Attica,  Cecrops 
and  Brechtheus,  regarded,  of  course,  later  as  divine  ^  and 
associated  with  the  ancient  snake-worship  so  common  in  the 
cult  of  the  dead.  According  to  one  old  legend,  Cecrops  came 
from  Egypt — which,  indeed,  possibly  was  the  cradle  of  the 
Aegaean  and  Pelasgian  people.     He  is  said  to  have  introduced 

^  This  evidently  accounts  for  the  fact  that  Athens  is  ahnost  entirely  ignored 
by  Homer,  the  glorifier  of  the  Achaeans.  (In  later  times  the  Athenians 
perhaps  inserted  certain  lines  in  their  own  honour.) 

2  Thuc.  ii.  17. 

'  The  ancient  EJrechtheion,  or  *  house  of  Brechtheus,'  preceded  the  temple  of 
Athene.  Some  writers  assert  that  Cecrops  (as  also  many  another  old  hero,  such 
as  Odysseus,  or  even  the  lawgiver  Lycurgus)  was  originally  "  only  a  god." 
i  Surely  the  reverse  process  is  more  credible. 

31 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

a  higher  form  of  rehgion  and  to  have  aboHshed  bloody  (human  ?) 
sacrifice.  On  the  old  Cecropian  citadel  was  built  by  his  son 
Krechtheus  a  temple,  first  dedicated  to  Poseidon,  but  after- 
wards (as  we  see  from  Homer,  Od.  vii.  82)  given  over  to  the 
new  tutelary  deity,  Athene ;  ^  or  perhaps  they  shared  it  until 
the  first  Parthenon  was  built.  Aegeus,  grandson  of  Krechtheus, 
is  said  to  have  been  the  father  of  Theseus,  and  if  (as  we  have 
seen  to  be  possible)  the  myth  of  Theseus  and  King  Minos 
refers  to  facts  that  occurred  in  the  last  era  of  Minoan  civiliza- 
tion— i.e.  about  1350 — it  will  follow  that  Cecrops  might  have 
lived  (granting  that  tradition  is  fairly  correct)  about  1450. 
Thus  the  era  of  the  ancient  traditional  Pelasgian  kings  of 
Athens  would  correspond  with  the  highest  period  of  Mycenaean 
civilization,  and  the  tradition  which  tells  us  that  Theseus  was 
driven  from  his  throne  ^  may  very  possibly  be  founded  on  the 
fact  that  the  Achaeans,  though  they  did  not  retain  possession, 
captured  Athens.  And  the  strange  story  of  the  fierce  battle, 
in  the  very  midst  of  the  city,  in  which  Theseus  conquered  the 
Amazons  may  point  to  some  disturbance  caused  by  the  pressure 
from  the  north  of  the  Achaean  invaders. 

Thebes  in  Pre-Dorian  Times 

Another  ancient  city  of  Greece  was  seven-gated  Thebes, 
which  has  left  us  many  remarkable  legends,  but  very  few  ruins, 
and  almost  no  relics  of  its  early  existence — as  is  the  case 
with  most  places  that  have  been  continuously  inhabited. 
Homer  speaks  of  Amphion  (Niobe's  husband)  and  Zethus 
as  its  founders,  and  perhaps  this  is  the  oldest  tradition,  and 
points  to  a  dynasty  (possibly  from  Phrygia,  the  home  of 
Niobe  and  her  brother  Pelops)  before  that  of  Cadmus,  who  is 

^  The  contest  between  Poseidon  and  Athene  for  the  tutelage  of  the  city  was 
the  subject  of  the  west  pediment  of  the  later  Parthenon  (see  Fig.  86) .  Codrus 
is  said  to  have  decided  it.  Others  say  that  it  was  decided  by  the  votes  of  the 
Athenian  women,  who  beat  the  men  by  one  vote — a^ad  were  straightway  dis- 
franchised 1 

2  He  retired  to  the  island  Scyros,  where  he  was  murdered.  Some  nine 
hundred  years  later  what  were  supposed  to  be  his  bones  were  brought  to 
Athens  by  Cimon  and  consigned  to  the  Theseion  (Theseum) — perhaps  not 
what  is  now  so  called. 

32 


THE   AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

generally  said  to  have  founded  Thebes.  Cadmus,  according 
to  Herodotus,  was  a  Phoenician,^  and  "  introduced  the  art  of 
writing,  whereof  the  Greeks  till  then  had  been  ignorant.'' 
Fourth  in  descent  from  Cadmus  was  Oedipus,  whose  tragic 
fate  is  related  by  Sophocles.  One  of  the  sons  of  Oedipus, 
according  to  the  old  legend,  expelled  by  his  brother  fled  to 
the  Peloponnese  and  incited  the  famous  and  disastrous  expe- 
dition of  the  Seven  against  Thebes,  in  which  six  of  the  seven 
heroes  perished  ;  but  later  their  descendants  (Kpigoni)  made 
a  second  expedition  and  razed  Thebes  to  the  ground. 

This  well-known  myth  doubtless  rests  on  traditions  of  real 
facts,  and  these  facts  were  probably  of  this  nature.  When 
the  successive  waves  of  northern  invaders — whom  we  may 
conveniently  call  by  the  collective  name  of  Achaeans — 
rolled  southward  through  Upper  Greece,  the  seven-portal' d 
stronghold  of  Thebes,  with  its  mighty  ramparts  and  towers 
(see  Od.  xi.  264)  and  its  Cadmeia,  the  acropolis  built 
by  Cadmus,  at  first  proved  impregnable ;  but  after  the 
invaders  had  firmly  planted  themselves  in  southern  Argos 
they  sent  an  army  across  the  Isthmus  or  the  Gulf  of  Corinth 
and  succeeded  in  capturing  the  city.  With  this  theory  the 
traditional  date  of  Cadmus  (1313)  and  that  of  the  expedition 
of  the  Seven  against  Thebes  (1213)  fit  in  very  fairly,  and  the 
theory  that  these  attacks  on  Thebes  were  made  by  an  elder 
generation  of  the  Homeric  '  Achaeans '  and  '  Argives '  is  in 
agreement  with  what  Homer  and  Hesiod  and  others  relate. 

But  let  us  hear  further  what  is  known,  or  what  may  be  reason- 
ably inferred,  about  these  invaders  who,  doubtless  in  many 
successive  waves  and  under  many  different  names,  poured  into 
Greece,  evidently  from  the  north,  during  perhaps  two  centuries 
(1400-1200). 

It  is  said  ^  that  parts  of  Central  Europe  during  these  ages 
were  peopled  by  a  race  which  in  many  points  resembled  the 

^  The  name  may  possibly  mean  '  the  Oriental ' ;  cf.  Hebrew  gedent,  the 
East.  Some,  however,  assert  that  what  few  relics  have  been  discovered  of 
Thebes  are  purely  Minoan  in  character. 

^  See  especially  Professor  Ridgeway's  Early  Age  of  Greece.  Others  regard 
this  '  Hallstatt  civilization  '  as  dating  only  from  about  700. 

c  33 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Achaeans  described  by  Homer.  In  the  Austrian  Alps  not 
far  from  Salzburg  there  is  a  place  named  Hallstatt,  where 
about  a  thousand  graves  have  been  examined.  The  relics 
point  to  a  transition  between  the  ages  of  bronze  and  iron. 
Armour  and  shields  (round  metal  shields  very  unlike  the  huge 
Aegaean  shield)  and  swords  of  both  metals  were  found,  and  a 
great  number  of  brooches  [fibulae,  irepovm),  such  as  those 
with  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  Homeric  woman's 
peplos  and  the  man's  chlaina  were  fastened.  Not  much  silver 
was  found,  but  many  ornaments  of  amber  (from  northern 
seas),  and  gold  and  a  blue  vitreous  substance  like  the  Homeric 
cyan.  Both  burial  and  cremation  seem  to  have  been  prac- 
tised. Whether  there  is  any  evidence  of  horses  and  chariots 
I  do  not  know. 

It  seems  possible  that  bands  of  this  northern,  fair-haired, 
broad-headed  Aryan  race  ^  made  their  way  from  time  to  time 
down  into  Epirus  and  Thessaly,  and  established  themselves 
in  the  district  of  Pelasgic  Argos,  also  called  Phthiotis,  the 
home  of  the  Homeric  Achilles.  Here  they  probably  collected  a 
large  army  of  the  native  Argives,  and  at  the  head  of  this  Argive 
host  pressed  southward,  crossed  the  Corinthian  Gulf,  over- 
ran the  Peloponnese  (except  perhaps  Arcadia),  and  founded 
that  southern  Argos  of  which  Agamemnon  was  afterwards 
king,  2  and  which  before  the  advent  of  the  Achaeans  and  their 
Argives  was  probably  called  lyarisa  (one  of  the  very  numerous 
'  lyarisas,'  or  forts,  in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor)  and  was  a  mere 
outpost  of  royal  Mycenae. 

Now  in  Thessaly,  perhaps  before  the  advent  of  the  Achaeans 
(unless  they  accompanied  or  followed  them  from  the  north), 
lived  a  people  called  Hellenes.  They  were  evidently  of  Aryan, 
not  Pelasgic,  race.  Tradition  makes  Hellen,  their  ancestor, 
son   of   the   Greek  Noah,   Deucalion,    and   asserts    that    he 

^  Tites-caffies  is  even  nowadays  (besides  its  other  meaning)  used  as  a 
sobriquet  for  the  Teuton  race. 

*  In  Homer  Diomede  seems  to  be  prince  of  the  city  Argos,  probably  under 
the  suzerainty  of  Agamemnon,  who  lived  at  Mycenae.  The  theory  has  already 
been  mentioned  that  Agamemnon  and  his  Achaeans  and  Argives  were  only 
transported  from  Thessaly  to  the  Peloponnese  by  a  poet's  imagination. 

34 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

reigned  over  Thessalian  Phthiotis,  or  Phthia,  as  Homer  calls 
it,  which  was  the  home  of  Achilles.  The  district  inhabited 
by  these  Hellenes — the  original  Hellas — seems  to  have  been 
the  valley  of  the  river  Spercheios  (now  called  Ellada),  which 
runs  into  the  sea  not  far  north  of  Thermopylae.  Some  of 
these  Hellenes  seem  to  have  joined  in  the  southward  march, 
and  to  have  been  merged  in  the  larger  host  of  Argives  and 
Achaeans — for  in  Homer  the  Hellenes,  and  the  pan-Hellenes, 
are  still  the  Thessalian  folk  who  followed  Achilles,  and  Hellas 
is  still  only  a  district  in  Thessaly.  It  was  not  till  much  later, 
as  Thucydides  says,  that  the  names  Hellas  and  Hellenes 
won  their  broader  meanings,  and  denoted  the  land  and  the 
peoples  of  what  we  call  the  Greek  race  not  only  in  Greece 
proper  but  in  Asia  Minor,  Africa,  Sicily,  and  Italy.  ^ 

These  invading  bands  of  Achaeans,  with  their  Argive  and 
Hellene  followers,  seem  to  have  settled  themselves  chiefly  in 
the  Peloponnese.  Mycenae  was  evidently  captured  by  them, 
but  the  signs  of  conflagration  which  are  found  both  at  Mycenae 
and  at  Tiryns  are  very  Hkely  due  to  the  later  Dorians,  of  whom 
we  shall  hear  ere  long.  The  Achaeans  were  probably  not  such 
a  refined  and  artistically  civilized  people  as  the  Mycenaeans 
whom  they  had  conquered,  but  they  were  not,  as  the  Dorians 
seem  to  have  been,  what  Homer  calls  "  savages  wanton  and 
wild,  despisers  of  justice,"  and  they  seem  to  have  assimilated 
much  that  was  valuable  in  the  old  Aegaean  civiHzation. 
Indeed,  the  pictures  that  Homer  gives  us  of  these  Achaean 
princes  are  those  of  men  warlike  and  haughty,  and  sometimes 
terribly  cruel  and  crafty,  but  endowed  with  deep  feelings  of 
affection  and  reverence  and  with  a  keen  sensitiveness  to  all 

^  It  is  curious  also  how  the  word  '  Greek  '  won  its  way  from  an  equally 
obscure  origin.  Aristotle  indeed  asserts  that  near  Dodona,  in  Epirus,  there 
lived  in  early  ages  a  people  "then  called  Greeks,  but  now  Hellenes";  and 
Sophocles  perhaps  used  the  name  ;  but  it  is  generally  supposed  that  it  was 
the  Romans  who  first  gave  the  name  to  the  Hellenes  whom  they  met  in 
Southern  Italy  (Magna  Graecia).  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  a  band  of 
Graians  from  Boeotia  joined  the  Kuboeans  in  founding  Cyme  (Cumae)  in 
Italy,  and  that  their  name  was  applied  by  the  Romans  to  all  Hellenic  people. 
Nations  are  sometimes  named  from  apparently  small  causes  {e.g.  Americans, 
Swiss),  and  are  often  known  to  foreigners  by  non-native  names,  e.g.  Germans, 
AUemands,  Xedeschi,  Dutch,  Kafirs,  ]^truscans  (Rasena),  I/ycians  (Termilae). 

35 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
that  is  gracious  and  beautiful.  To  their  possession  of  such 
quahties  may  be  due  the  otherwise  inexpHcable  fact  that  the 
tombs  of  the  Mycenaean  monarchs  were  discovered  intact 
after  the  lapse  of  more  than  3000  years.  How  these  could 
have  escaped  the  Dorians  and  later  marauders  is  puzzling 
enough,  but  that  they  were  not  at  once  plundered  by  the 
Achaeans  seems  explainable  by  assuming  (as  I  assumed  before) 
that  these  Achaeans  did  not  ravage  and  enslave,  but,  like  the 
Norman  adventurers  in  later  ages,  constituted  themselves  the 
lords  of  the  native  population,  and  probably  married  princesses 
of  the  native  dynasties.  On  this  assumption  Atreus  and 
Agamemnon,  though  mainly  of  Achaean  blood,  might  have 
regarded  the  old  Pelopidae  as  their  ancestors,  and  in  this  case 
would  have  carefully  kept  intact  their  tombs  on  the  acropolis, 
lyater,  i^erhaps,  the  effects  of  some  conflagration  may  have 
concealed  them  from  the  invader. 

Having  thus  given  a  sketch  of  what  is  known  about  the  early 
— so-called  Aegaean — age  of  Greece,  and  having  shown  the 
connexion  between  this  Aegaean  civilization  and  that  of 
Crete,  Egypt,  and  Troy,  and  having  discussed  some  of  the 
more  important  traditions  in  their  possible  relation  to  certain 
great  occurrences  in  Greece  proper  down  to  the  final  establish- 
ment of  the  Achaeans  in  Southern  Greece  (say  about  1200),  I 
shall  now,  before  continmng  the  account  of  historical,  or 
quasi-historical,  events,  treat  in  the  following  three  sections 
three  subjects  connected  with  what  has  been  already  written — 
namely,  the  questions  of  (A)  I^anguage  and  Writing,  (B)  The 
Old  Religion,  (C)  The  *  Homeric  Age  '  and  Homer.  The  fourth 
section  will  contain  a  chronological  table  (with,  of  course, 
many  somewhat  audaciously  hazarded  dates)  which  will 
give  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  era  that  we  have  been  considering. 
These  and  other  such  sections  may  be  regarded  as  supple- 
mentary monographs,  not  as  integral  parts  of  the  main  subject 
of  the  book. 


36 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

SECTION  A :  LANGUAGE  AND  WRITING 

A  chapter  on  the  old  Aegaean  and  Pelasgic  languages 
necessarily  exhibits  some  similarity  to  the  celebrated  chapter 
on  the  snakes  of  Ireland.  Of  ancient  Cretan,  which  was 
perhaps  related  to  the  Mycenaean  and  other  Aegaean  lan- 
guages, we  do,  indeed,  possess  some  thousands  of  inscriptions, 
but  not  one  single  symbol  or  letter  of  all  these  inscriptions 
has  yet  been  satisfactorily  deciphered,  far  less  has  any  certain 
meaning  been  extracted.  It  is  uncertain  whether  Pelasgic 
was  of  the  same  family  as  the  Aegaean  and  Cretan,  and  whether 
all  these  languages,  or  any  one  of  them,  belonged  to  the  Aryan 
stock  or  to  the  Semitic,  or  to  some  other  entirely  unknown 
stock,  from  which  perhaps  also  the  Hittite  language  was 
derived. 

Herodotus  tells  us  that,  to  judge  from  various  Pelasgian 
tribes  of  his  day  (some  in  Macedonia,  others  on  the  Hellespont) 
and  from  cities  "  which  have  dropped  the  name,  but  are  in 
fact  Pelasgian,"  their  language  was  certainly  '  barbarous ' ; 
but  of  course  this  is  no  proof  of  its  having  been  a  non- Aryan 
language,  and  tells  us  no  more  than  Homer  does  when  he  calls 
the  Carians  '  barbarous-tongued.'  As  we  have  already  seen, 
there  is  a  possibiHty  of  the  Pelasgic  being  closely  related  to 
the  Etruscan,  and  we  have  also  seen  that  this  same  language 
may  possibly  have  been  spoken  by  Goliath  and  his  fellow- 
Philistines.  But  to  speak  of  the  Pelasgic  as  the  principal 
language  or  dialect  of  ancient  Greece,  and  to  assume  that  it 
may  have  been  the  same  as  the  Mycenaean,  and  related  to  the 
Cretan,  is,  of  course,  mere  guesswork.  All  we  can  be  fairly 
certain  about  is  that  the  pre-Hellenic  language,  or  languages, 
left  behind  names  of  places  and  other  words  which  were 
adopted  by  the  northern  invaders,  and  which  are  evidently 
from  no  Greek  source.  '  I^arisa '  is  a  name  that  survived  both 
in  Thessaly  and  in  Asia  Minor.  It  seems  to  mean  '  a  fortress.' 
'Olympos'  and  'Parnassus'  are  others.  Words  with  the  termi- 
nation 'inth{os)  are  thought  to  be  Pelasgic  or  Aegaean — e.g, 
Corinthos,  Tiryn(th)s,  Olynthos,  Zacynthos,   Rhadaminthys, 

37 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
Hyacinthos,  and  lyabyrinthos.    As  far  as  we  can  tell,  these 
and  other  such  words,  supposed  to  be  relics  of  the  old  Pelasgic 
or  Aegaean,  have  no  affinity  to  an}''  Aryan  or  to  any  Semitic 
language. 

Formerly  it  was  believed  that  no  writing  existed  in  Europe 
before  the  Phoenicians  introduced  their  alphabet  into  Crete, 
whence  it  was  brought  to  Greece.  There  seems,  indeed, 
no  evidence  that  writing,  whether  alphabetic  or  other,  was 
known  in  pre-Hellenic  Greece,  for  although  Herodotus  (v.  58) 
asserts  that  Cadmus  and  his  Phoenicians  brought  the  art  of 
writing,  "  whereof  the  Greeks  had  been  till  then  ignorant,*' 
to  Boeotia  when  they  founded  Thebes  (traditional  date  1313), 
nevertheless  no  inscription  of  any  sort  has,  I  believe,  been 
found  in  Greece  itself  of  a  date  earlier  than  about  700,  and 
nothing  at  all  in  any  script  except  the  alphabetic.  Amid  all 
the  costly  and  artistic  treasures  of  the  Mycenaean  kings 
there  has  been  discovered  no  sign  of  writing. 

But,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  writing  was  well  known  at  this 
time  not  only  in  Egypt  and  Babylonia,  and  perhaps  in  a 
great  part  of  Asia  Minor,  but  also  in  Crete,  and,  as  ancient 
seals  and  other  inscribed  objects  prove,  it  had  existed  there 
ever  since  at  least  2000 — long  before  the  advent  of  the 
Phoenician  alphabet.  This  Minoan  script — of  which  there  are 
various  forms — was  probably  a  Cretan  ^  invention,  although 
in  its  oldest  form  it  seems  to  have  some  affinity  to  Egyptian 
hieroglyphics,  and  in  its  later  possibly  to  the  Hittite  and  Cypriot 
writing.  In  its  oldest  form  Minoan  script  was  pictographic. 
It  consisted  of  rude  pictures  or  symbols  denoting  objects 
themselves.  lyater  it  became  hieroglyphic,  in  which  system 
the  symbol  denoted  the  name  of  an  object,  i.e.  a  word. 
Finally  it  became  linear,  each  sign  probably  denoting 
a  syllable  (not  a  mere  sound,  as  in  the  alphabetic  system). 
Thousands  of  tablets  with  this  linear  script  have  been  dis- 
covered. It  went  through  various  changes,  and  after  the 
great  catastrophe  of  c.  1400  developed  a  more  systematic 
method  of  representing  words  and  sentences,  and  a  cursive 

1  Similar  script  has  been  found  in  some  of  the  islands— f.g.  Thera  and  Melos. 

38 


20.  Cretan  Jars  for  Oii.  or  Corn 


21.  Ci<AY  Disc  of  Phaestus 


38 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

character  which  seems  to  presume  the  knowledge  of  pen  and 
ink.  In  the  later  form  the  Minoan  script  stands  on  a  level 
very  much  higher  than  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  or  Babylonian 
cuneiform.  Hitherto,  as  we  have  said,  all  attempts  to  decipher 
Cretan  script  have  failed,  except  that  possibly  certain  numerical 
symbols,  like  the  Egyptian,  have  been  recognized.^ 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  all  inscriptions  found  in 
Crete  is  that  on  both  faces  of  the  so-called  disc  of  Phaestus 


22.    Cretan  I^inkar  Script 


(Fig.  2i),  a  circular  clay  tablet  about  7  inches  in  diameter. 
The  date  is  perhaps  about  1800.  It  is  evidently  not  merely 
pictographic,  and  is  divided  into  periods,  which  may  repre- 
sent words,  or  sentences.  The  regularity  of  these  divisions 
and  the  repetition  of  certain  symbols,  such  as  the  crested  or 
horse-maned  warrior  ^  and  the  circle  with  seven  dots  (can  they 

^  Supposed  to  have  been  on  a  decimal  system,  the  unit  signified  by  an 
upright  stroke,  the  tens  by  points,  the  hundreds  by  bars,  and  the  thousands 
by  lozenges. 

2  Reminding  one  of  Egyptian  pictures  of  the  Pulosathu  (Philistines),  and 
still  more  of  the  description  by  Herodotus  of  I^ibyans  in  the  army  of 
Xerxes  who  wore  on  the  head  "  the  scalps  of  horses  with  the  ears  and  mane 
standing  upright  as  a  crest. ' '  In  Central  Africa  I  have  seen  similar  crests  made 
of  zebra  scalps. 

39 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
be  tlie  sky  and  seven  planets  ?),  have  made  some  believe  that 
it  is  a  poem — possibly  a  hymn  to  the  Cretan  Zeus  or  the 
Great  Mother.     Sir  Arthur  Kvans  holds  it  to  be  lyycian  rather 
than  Cretan  script. 

In  later  times,  after  Greek  influence  had  established  itself  in 
Crete,  there  was  a  considerable  district  at  the  eastern  end  of 
the  island  inhabited  by  the  descendants  of  the  old  Cretan 
race  (Eteocretes,  or  true-Cretans,  as  Homer  calls  them) 
Among  them  an  old  Cretan  language  survived,  as  the  Krse 
in  Ireland  and  the  Basque  in  Spain.  But  the  old  script  was 
apparently  forgotten,  and  an  inscription  in  this  language 
written  in  Greek  letters  has  been  discovered.  Unfortunately, 
although  we  can  read  it,  we  cannot  extract  any  meaning 
from  it. 

In  Greece  itself,  as  has  been  already  said,  there  has  been 
found  no  sign  of  any  script  but  the  alphabetic,  and  the  hope 
of  discovering  a  clue  to  ancient  Mycenaean  or  Pelasgic 
is  therefore  immeasurably  less  than  in  the  case  of  the  old 
Cretan  languages.  The  earliest  mention  of  writing  in  Greek 
literature  is  probably  to  be  found  in  Homer's  Iliad  (vi.  i68), 
where  King  Proetus  of  Argos  sends  Bellerophon  to  lyycia 
with  '  direful  signs  *  written  on  a  '  closed  tablet,'  in  order  that 
the  Ivycian  king  should  kill  him  on  his  arrival.  These  '  direful 
signs '  may  have  been  pictorial,  or  (as  Proetus  had  lived  in 
I/ycia)  they  may  have  been  in  I^ycian  writing,^  or  in  such  a 
script  as  the  Hittites  employed — ^hieroglyphic  or  the  so-called 
Cypriot  syllabarium — which  seems  to  have  been  widely 
used  in  Asia  Minor,  for  imitations  of  it  are  said  to  have  been 
found  among  the  ornamental  devices  on  ancient  Trojan 
pottery. 

Although  not  related  in  very  ancient  Greek  literature,  the 
fable  of  Philomela  (daughter  of  the  old  Athenian  king  Pandion) 
seems  to  imply  the  knowledge  of  some  kind  of  writing,  as  she 

^  The  ancient  Lycian  alphabet  is  said  to  have  had  more  vowels  than  con- 
sonant?, so  that  it  was  probably  non-Semitic,  but  it  differed  entirely  from  the 
Greek,  although  Greece  and  Lycia  seem  to  have  been  from  early  times  closely 
connected.  Indeed,  the  word  '  Lycian  '  is  wholly  Greek.  The  people  called 
themselves  '  Termilae,'  as  Herodotus  says,  and  as  is  proved  by  inscriptions. 

40 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 
wove  words  into  a  peplos  to  communicate  with  her  sister 
Procne ;   and  the  Apple  of  Discord  was  inscribed. 

The  invention,  or  anyhow  the  introduction  into  Europe, 
of  the  alphabet  is  due  to  the  Phoenicians.^  The  Phoenician 
script  consisted  (like  other  Semitic  scripts)  solely  of  consonants 
and  breathings.  The  Greeks  seem  to  have  adopted  about 
fourteen  consonants  from  the  Phoenicians  and  to  have  used 
the  Phoenician  breathings  (aspirates)  to  represent  the  four 
vowel  sounds  A,  B,  I,  O.  Then  from  the  East  probably  came 
the  Greek  upsilon  (Y),  which  at  first  was  a  consonant  [i.e. 
the  digamma,  pronounced  like  V  or  F),  and  the  eta  (H),  which 
in  classical  Greek  is  e,  but  at  first  was  an  aspirate,  as  later  in 
lyatin.  It  is  found  as  aspirate  on  old  Greek  vases.  lyater 
it  was  cut  in  half  vertically,  and  the  halves  were  used 
as  the  hard  and  soft  breathings.  The  H  as  aspirate  can  be 
seen  on  Hiero's  helmet  (Fig.  ^/y)  and  on  Tataia's  oil-flask 
(Fig.  23).  Other  consonants,  e.g.  "i^,  ^,  and  the  long  vowel 
17,  were  invented  later — probably  in  Ionia,  or  perhaps  Sicily. 
The  ancient  9  {koppa ;  Hebr.  Koph)  was  introduced  very  early 
into  Corinth,  and  is  found  on  Corinthian  vases  down  to  Roman 
times.  The  old  form  of  the  four-stroke  S  was  undulatory, 
nearly  hke  our  S  (Fig.  23).  At  Corinth  it  was  sometimes 
written  M.  This  is  found  also  on  coins  of  Paestum.  Euripides 
(in  a  fragment)  describes  all  the  letters  of  the  name 
9H2EYE,  and  hence  we  see  that  in  Attica  about  440  the  H 
was  the  e  and  the  2  was  already  written  with  four  strokes. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  art  of  writing  is  said  by  old  authors 
to  have  been  brought  to  Greece  by  Cadmus  of  Thebes.  It 
is  perhaps  more  probable  that  it  was  first  introduced  from  the 
East  into  Asiatic  Hellas,  and  thence  to  Athens.  But  several 
variations  of  Hellenic  script  existed,  and  the  '  Cadmean'  or  some 
other  may  have  preceded  the  Ionian  in  Greece  proper.  The  full 
alphabet  of  twenty-four  letters  (called  the  Simonidean,  after 
the  Cean  poet)  seems  first  to  have  been  used  in  Samos,  and  not 
to  have  reached  Athens  until  after  the  Peloponnesian  War 

*  How  far  the  Phoenician  alphabetic  system  influenced  Cretan  script  is 
not  easy  to  determine.     The  latest  form  of  Cretan  script  seems  to  be  syllabic. 

41 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
(403).  At  first  the  Greeks  often  wrote  from  right  to  left 
(see  Fig.  23),  as  was  done  in  Phoenician  and  other  Semitic 
languages.  Then  they  sometimes  wrote  alternate  lines  in 
different  directions,  "  turning  the  oxen/'  as  they  expressed 
it,  at  the  end  of  each  line  (Pov<rTpo(l)vS6v) ,  or  else  they  placed 
the  words  in  a  column  [kiovyiSov),  as  in  some  Oriental 
languages. 

We  may  regard  1000-900  (i.e.  about  the  age  of  Solomon 
and  Hiram  of  Tyre)  as  the  period  in  which  the  art  of  writing 
became  known  to  the  Greeks  through  the  same  Phoenicians 
who  helped  Solomon  to  build  his  Temple.    Although  doubtless 


,@®T^\4 


Tfu*  'i  at.  tKtt^ntH.   »LC/}ea'  an  *> 


"^^^  Tpcrxt^j  cfu  hguBos  ■  hos  dkv  fu  h^6J/ih tiiJ^s  &n^ 

^  J Atn  Taputu  J^asA  ,<^  uhoei/i^JiaJjnc  s{<z/(  ie^tmc  v^'nd ^ 
FiGi  23- 

it  was  long  before  it  came  into  anything  like  general  use, 
it  was  most  probably  used  for  private,  if  not  public,  purposes  ^ 
during  one  or  two  centuries  before  an  Attic  jar,  now  in  the 
Museum  at  Athens,  was  incised  with  what  is  believed  to 
be  the  earliest  Greek  inscription  extant.  The  inscription, 
scratched  on  the  shoulder  of  the  jar  in  primitive  Greek 
letters,  is  to  this  effect :  "  He  who  of  all  the  dancers  the  most 
gaily  skips.  His  shall  be  this  vase."  The  date  of  this  jar  and 
of  the  inscription  (which  seems  to  have  been  incised  in  the  still 
soft  clay)  is  supposed  to  be  about  700.  Above  is  shown  another 
very  interesting  inscription,  perhaps  nearly  as  old,  scratched 

^  The  name  of  I^ycurgus  is  said  to  have  been  inscribed  on  the  ancient  discus 
of  Iphitus  which  was  preserved  at  Olympia.  The  entire  absence  of  all  relics 
of  Greek  inscriptions  of  this  age  is  remarkable. 

42 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

by  a  child  (or  for  a  child)  on  her  lekythus — a  clay  bottle  for  oil 
or  scented  water.  Do  not  the  letters  seem  to  build  a  fairy 
bridge  across  the  gulf  of  all  these  2500  years  ?  The  signature 
of  the  artists  Krgotimus  and  Clitias,  who  made  and  painted 
the  Frangois  Vase  (Fig.  39),  may  be  not  very  much  later. 
The  Greek  inscriptions  on  the  Abu  Simbel  colossus  (Fig.  44) 
are  of  about  594. 

SECTION  B  :    THE  OLD  RELIGION 

When  we  speak  of  the  old  religion  of  the  Greeks  as  distin- 
guished from  the  later  worship  of  the  Olympian  deities  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  feeling  of  awe  and  the  sense  of  mystery 
which  were  the  sources  of  that  earlier  religion  are  inexhaustible 
in  human  nature,  and  that  side  by  side  with  the  worship  of 
Zeus  and  Athene  there  continued  to  exist  all  through  the 
so-called  classical  age  many  old  rites  and  esoteric  creeds  and 
secret  practices,  such  as  we  hear  of  in  connexion  with  the  Bleu- 
sinian  and  other  mysteries,  and  with  the  Dionysiac  (Bacchic) 
orgies,  and  the  occult  and  doubtless  sometimes  noble  teachings 
of  the  Orphic  theology.  Indeed,  this  old  mysticism  long 
survived,  as  it  was  bound  to  do,  what  has  been  called  the 
short-lived  puppet-show  of  the  Olympian  hierarchy,  and  one 
of  the  last  things  that  we  know  of  the  Athenians  is  that  many 
centuries  after  they  had  lost  what  little  belief  they  ever  had 
in  the  deities  of  their  pantheon  they  had  reverted  to  that 
*  wonder  '  which  is  said  to  be  the  fountain-head  of  all  religion, 
and  were  standing  once  more  in  doubt  and  awe  before  the 
altar  of  a  nameless  god. 

It  would  be  futile  to  divide  the  ages  of  Greek  history  into 
certain  periods  and  assign  to  each  its  peculiar  form  of  religion. 
But  there  are  certain  underlying  principles  and  many  external 
characteristics  which  distinguish  the  pre-Hellenic  and  the 
Homeric  forms  of  religion;  and  even  the  external  form  of 
a  nation's  religion  is  of  interest  and  helps  one  to  understand 
that  nation.  I  shall,  therefore,  first  consider  some  of  the 
distinguishing  principles  and  then  some  of  the  very  striking 

43 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
differences  in  the  kind  of  deities  and  the  kind  of  worship  that 
we  find  in  the  two  rehgions. 

What  chiefly  distinguishes  the  old  reHgion  from  the  later 
is  that  it  was  based  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  on  the  dread 
of  evil  spirits  {^eKridaijULovla) .  It  was  a  religion  of  atone- 
ment, propitiation,  exorcism,  purification,  riddance — the 
turning  aside  of  evil  influence  (airorpoirri).  Sacrifices  and 
offerings  were  made  on  the  principle  do  ut  abeas — i.e.  "  I  give 
in  order  that  thou  depart." 

As  it  is  still  with  many  a  barbarous  people,  so  also  in  Greece 
in  early  times,  before  the  Hellenic  imagination  had  personified 
in  human  shape  the  powers  of  nature,  every  not  quite  usual 
manifestation  of  natural  force  and  every  unusual  natural 
object  was  suspected  of  harbouring  powers  hostile  to  man. 
"  The  earth  is  full  of  evil  things,  and  full  the  sea,"  says  Hesiod. 
Pests  and  plagues  and  deadly  '  snatchers '  and  winged  disease 
were  lurking  and  swarming  and  flitting  about  on  all  sides, 
and  the  evil  eye  was  ever  on  the  watch.  Ghosts  and  ghoulish 
things  haunted  the  darkness  of  night  and  of  the  grave. 

The  souls  of  the  dead  manifested  themselves  not  seldom 
in  the  form  of  snakes,  to  which  propitiatory  offerings  were 
made,  and  the  powers  of  the  nether  world,  hungering  for 
blood,  were  doubtless  at  times  appeased  by  human  sacrifice — 
of  which  many  evidences  survived  to  a  later  age  in  ceremonies 
of  substitution  or  other  curious  rites  whose  meaning  had  long 
been  lost.^  And  in  later  times,  as  we  shall  see,  there  were 
many  other  survivals  of  old  chthonic  ritual,  as  it  is  called,  con- 
nected with  the  worship  of  the  powers  of  the  earth,  especially 
with  that  of  the  Karth-Mother,  Demeter,  and  of  Dionysus. 

This  religion  of  dread  and  exorcism  gave  place — probably 
somewhat  rapidly  and  not  permanently — to  a  rehgion  which 
was  not  only  wholly  different  in  its  external  forms  of  v/orship, 
but  was  founded  on  an  entirely  different  basis,  namely,  that  of 
service  (Oepairela) ,  the  principle  of  which  was  do  ut  des — i.e. 

^  The  stories  of  Isaac  and  of  Iphigeneia  denote  the  substitution  of  animals 
for  the  human  victim.  Aelian  tells  of  a  curious  rite  where  a  baby  calf  was 
dressed  up  and  furnished  with  boots  {cothurni)  and  thus  sacrificed. 

44 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

''  I  give  that  thou  mayst  give/'  The  offering  was  no  longer 
made  in  order  to  propitiate  some  dreaded  demonic  power, 
but  given  to  a  deity  endowed  with  human  feeHngs  and  human 
reason — one  who  would  surely  grant  some  favour  in  return  for 
the  service.  The  gloomy  chthonic  rites  and  the  horrors  of 
human  sacrifice  and  the  orgies  of  Dionysus  Zagreus,  in  which 
the  victim  was  torn  to  pieces  and  devoured  raw  (with  some 
idea  of  *  eating  the  god '),  and  all  the  '  spook '  and  mystery 
and  monstrosity  and  barbarity  and  sacerdotalism  ^  that  is 
connected  with  such  religion,  disappeared  apparently  in  a 
short  time  after  the  coming  of  the  Achaeans — for  in  all  Homer 
there  is  scarce  a  trace  of  such  things.^  It  is  true  that  we 
cannot  infer  from  Homer's  picture  (even  if  it  is  a  true  picture 
of  a  certain  class)  that  the  bulk  of  the  Greek  nation  in  the 
so-called  heroic  age  had  renounced  the  old  faith  and  adopted 
the  new.  Possibly  behind  the  dazzHng  scene  of  the  Achaean 
and  Argive  hosts  and  behind  all  the  brilliant  '  puppet  show  ' 
of  the  Olympian  hierarchy  there  was  still  a  dark  background 
in  Greece  itself  where  the  old  monstrous  beliefs  and  the  old 
ritual  still  lurked,  like  the  Python  of  Delphi  before  it  was  slain 
by  Apollo. 

But  for  a  time  at  least  this  new  and  brighter  religion  was 
destined  to  prevail — to  become  the  recognized  national  religion 
of  Greece — and  before  returning  to  consider  some  of  the 
ancient  pre-Hellenic  deities  and  their  *  supersession '  (as  it 
has  been  called)  by  the  gods  of  the  northern  invaders,  we 
should  note  well  how  the  Hellenic  imagination  transformed 
all  the  ghouls  and  pests  and  other  evil  and  monstrous  things 
into  Fates  and  Harpies  and  Sirens  and  Gorgons,  depriving 
them  thus  of  the  vague,  gruesome  horror  of  their  mysterious 
wn-human  nature.     Apollo  comes  with  his  bright  shafts,  and 

^  The  immense  number  of  priests,  prophets,  hierophants,  and  other  such 
mediums  connected  with  the  Orphic  and  similar  mystic  systems  is  often 
mentioned.  Priestly  office  connected  with  the  mysteries  was  the  hereditary 
right  of  certain  great  families,  such  as  the  i^umolpidae.  What  such  things 
can  develop  into  may  be  seen  from  the  history  of  the  Persian  Magi. 

2  There  certainly  is  the  slaughter  of  Trojan  captives  by  Achilles  at  the 
funeral  of  Patroclus  ;  but  that  was  scarcely  liuman  sacrifice. 

45 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Heracles,  the  god  of  health/  the  conqueror  of  Death  itself 
and  the  husband  of  ever-blooming  Hebe — and  they  put  to 
flight  the  swarming  hordes  of  evil  things,  and  the  mountain 
glades  re-echo  to  the  laughter  of  dryads  and  nymphs,  and  the 
sands  of  the  sea-shore  become  the  dancing-grounds  of  ocean 
nereids.  Kven  the  terrible  Furies  themselves — though  in  a 
later  age  still  worshipped  with  mystical  chthonic  rites  as 
denizens  of  Hell — seem  to  have  won  for  themselves  a  worship 
of  service,  and  almost  of  affectionate  veneration,  as  the  August 
and  Kindly  Goddesses.  Instead  of  hideous  and  savage  rites 
and  human  sacrifice  and  wild  orgies  where  live  victims  are  torn 
to  pieces  and  their  bleeding  flesh  devoured  by  the  worshippers 
in  their  mystical  yearning  to  '  eat  the  god  '  and  thus  participate 
in  the  divine,  we  have  Homeric  prayer  and  sacrifice  andhbation, 
by  which  the  gods  are  invoked  as  beings  endowed  with  human 
affections,  in  the  full  assurance  (scarce  ever  deceived)  of  help 
and  favour ;  ^  we  have  joyous  sacrificial  feasts  at  which  the 
gods  themselves  sometimes  are  present  in  visible  shape.  "  Ever 
till  now,"  says  King  Alcinous  (who,  though  no  Achaean,  is  of 
orthodox  Olympian  creed),  "ever  till  now  have  the  gods 
appeared  to  us  in  manifest  form  whenever  we  offered  glorious 
hecatombs,  and  they  feast  with  us,  sitting  at  our  side  where 
we  are  seated.  Ay,  and  if  any  lonely  wayfarer  meet  them, 
they  nowise  conceal  themselves — for  we  are  nigh  [akin]  unto 
the  gods."  The  common  form  of  invocation  to  the  supreme 
deity  as  '  Father  Zeus,'  the  father  both  of  men  and  of  gods, 
whose  thunder  is  often  a  sign  of  favour,  and  who  "  follows 
with  his  protecting  care  "  even  the  stranger  and  the  beggar,  is 
in  itself  a  striking  evidence  of  the  new  religious  spirit,  reminding 
one  much  more  of  the  northern  All-Vater,  Woden,  than  the 
Bull-god  of  Crete  or  the  monstrous  and  horrid  Dionysus 
Zagreus. 

In  Homer  all  is  intensely  human.     There  is  none  of  that 

1  Miss  Harrison  reproduces  pictures  in  one  of  which  Heracles  is  beating 
to  death  with  his  club  a  little  winged  pest  (/c^p) — perhaps  a  prehistoric  bacillus 
— and  in  another  an  emaciated  bald-headed  thing — perhaps  the  bacillus  of 
old  age. 

*  Unfulfilled  prayer  we  find  occasionally ;  e.g.  Od,  ix.  553. 

46 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

'  spook '  and  that  childish  dread  of  the  supernatural  which 
often  make  folk-lore  lose  its  human  interest.     We  find  very 
few  monstrous  shapes  (such  as  the  huge  octopus-like  Scylla, 
and  the  vague  terror  of  the  '  Gorgon  head  '  in  Od.  xi.  634), 
no  bull-headed  or  serpent-tailed  men  (Proteus  is  no  permanent 
monster,  and  the  sirens  and  sea-nymphs  are  purely  human  in 
form),  no  owl-headed  Athene  or  cow-headed  Hera,  although 
the  old  epithets  of  these  goddesses  point  to  the  monstrosities 
of  an  earher  creed.     Even  the  winged  Pegasus  is  omitted  in 
the  story  of  Bellerophon  as  told  by  Homer.     It  is  true  that 
we  have  Circe    ('  Hawk-goddess ')    with  her  wand  and  her 
baleful  drugs — but  how  intensely  human  she  is  !     How  this 
'  dread  goddess,'  this  hawk-headed  Eastern  witch,  is  trans- 
formed into  a  human  being  with  womanly  affections  of  love 
and  pity  !     In  the  Homeric  Hades,  too,  one  feels,  it  is  true,  the 
presence  of  the  supernatural.     But  could  anything  be  more 
pathetically  human  than  the  meeting  of  Odysseus  with  his 
mother,   or  with    Elpenor,   or    with    Agamemnon — or    with 
Ajax  ?     Here  and  there  in  the  Odyssey  charms  and  drugs 
are  mentioned — but  never  with  superstitious  awe.     The  plant 
'  moly  *  which  Hermes  gives  Odysseus  as  a  charm — "  black  at 
the  root,  but  the  flower  is  like  unto  milk  in  its  whiteness" — 
excites  in  us  a  sense  of  delight,  not  of  dread  or  mystery  ; 
and  when  the  sons  of  Autolycus  bind  for  Odysseus  the  wound 
that  the  boar  of  Parnassus  had  ripped  in  his  leg,  and  "  staunch 
the  dark  red  blood  with  a  song  of  enchantment,"  we  notice  it 
merely  as  we  should  notice  some  old  superstitious  habit  of 
the  present  day.     The  Cyclops  himself  is  nothing  but  an 
enormous  human  being ;    and  he  too  prays  to  Poseidon  as 
his  father,  although  he  speaks  contemptuously  of  the  gods 
as  his  inferiors  in  strength.     And  how  the  touch  of  nature 
makes  us  akin  to  the  divine  when  Hermes  complains  of  his 
weary  flight  across  the  boundless  expanses  of  ocean,  afar  from 
the  cities  of  men  where  he  might  have  obtained  a  little  refresh- 
ment at  some  sacrificial  feast !     And  how  touching  is  the 
I  motherly  pride  and  joy  of  I^eto  while  she  watches  her  daughter 
Artemis  among  her  attendant  nymphs !    The  Homeric  gods 

47 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
are  as  intensely  human  as  the  Pheidian  gods  that  on  the 
Parthenon  frieze  await  the  approaching  procession  of  their 
worshippers.  And  they  are  the  gods  of  all  "  bread-eating 
races  of  mortals  " — universal  deities,  not  mere  local  or  ancestral 
divinities. 

This  different  conception  of  the  supernatural  was  doubtless 
introduced  by  the  northern  invaders,  whom  we  may  perhaps 
speak  of  under  the  collective  name  of  Achaeans.  The  character 
of  these  northmen  evidently  differed  much  from  that  of  the 
southern  peoples  whom  they  conquered.  They  had  the  vigour, 
the  courage,  the  open,  if  somewhat  overbearing  and  inartistic, 
nature  of  northern  folk  ;  they  had  the  contempt  for  all  craven 
dread  of  supernatural  powers  and  monstrous  things  which 
characterizes  the  best  of  the  Aryan  people.  They  looked  up 
to  the  heights  of  the  sunlit  dome  of  heaven  and  to  the  vast 
expanses  of  cloudland  and  imagined  there  the  home  of  the 
gods — not  in  the  gloom  of  a  nether  world  haunted  by  forms  of 
horror.  They  did  not  hide  their  dead  in  shaft-tombs,  but  sent 
them  heavenwards  in  the  flames  that  leaped  upward  from  the 
funeral  pyre. 

lyCt  us  now  consider  some  of  the  ancient  deities  and  rites 
as  contrasted  with  those  of  the  later  '  heroic '  age.  Out  of 
a  vast  and  confused  congeries  of  fact  and  theory  I  shall  choose 
just  a  few  of  the  most  intelligible. 

As  in  the  case  of  pre-Hellenic  races  and  pre-Hellenic  civiliza- 
tion, we  have  to  turn  to  Crete  and  Mycenae  for  most  of  our 
evidence  in  regard  to  pre-Hellenic  religion.  The  evidence 
supplied  by  Crete  is,  of  course,  only  indirectly  appHcable, 
but  it  seems  to  confirm  and  supplement  what  little  is  known 
about  the  reHgion  of  the  Mycenaean  and  other  Aegaean  and 
Pelasgic  peoples,  if  we  may  use  these  words  to  denote  the 
early  inhabitants  of  what  we  mean  by  '  Greece '  and  some  of  its 
adjacent  islands. 

In  the  earliest  age  of  which  we  have  evidence  no  temples 
seem  to  have  existed.  Probably  groves  and  caverns  were 
first  used,  such  as  the  cave  at  Delphi,  or  the  Dictaean  cave  in 
Crete,  the  fabled  birthplace  of  the  Cretan  Zeus,  where  an 

48 


24-   '  Harvkster  Vase 


25.  Cretan  Sarcophagus 


48 


THE   AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

ancient  altar  and  a  table  of  libation  have  been  found,  as  well 
as  the  ashes  of  victims  and  votive  offerings,  among  which 
are  numerous  bronzed  models  of  the  double  axe,  the  symbol 
of  divinity. 

In  Crete  no  remains  have  been  discovered  of  large  temples, 
but  in  the  palaces  as  well  as  in  ordinary  houses  small 
rooms  seem  to  have  been  set  apart  for  worship,  and  in  one 
case,  at  Gournia,  what  seems  to  have  been  a  little  much- 
frequented  shrine  (for  it  was  approached  by  a  well-worn 
paved  path)  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  town. 

In  Greece  itself,  among  the  Aegaean  and  Pelasgic  peoples, 
if  we  may  draw  conclusions  from  the  evidence  of  later  days, 
the  first  objects  of  religious  worship  were  stocks  and  stones 
— possibly  sometimes  such  meteorites  as  the  images  of  the 
Tauric  and  Bphesian  Artemis,  which  "fell  from  heaven.'* 
These  were  at  first  formless  and  unhoused.  I^ater  they  were 
shaped  into  some  rough  resemblance  to  the  human  form, 
though  generally  legless,  as  we  see  from  old  descriptions  of 
archaic  wooden  Greek  idols  {^oam),  and  from  many  ancient 
images  in  earth- ware  which  have  been  dug  up. 

In  Crete,  besides  such  ancient  legless  and  armless  idols,  have 
been  discovered  many  representations  or  models  of  (i)  sacred 
symbolic  objects,  (2)  divinities. 

The  symbolic  objects  evidently  signified  the  presence  of 
divinity  in  what  is  called  an-iconic  ritual  [i.e.  a  ritual  without 
actual  idols  ;  such  as  was  used  in  the  Mysteries,  where  certain 
sacred  objects  were  believed  to  possess  a  supernatural  influence) . 
Of  these  symbols  the  horns  of  consecration  and  the  double 
axe  (see  the  Cretan  Sarcophagus,  Fig.  25)  are  the  commonest. 
The  horns  (reminding  one  of  the  horns  of  the  Jewish  altar, 
and  evidently  connected  with  the  worship  of  a  Bull-god 
— possibly  Moloch)  are  depicted  frequently  in  frescoes  and 
on  seals  when  any  religious  scene  is  represented.  They 
have  also  been  found  at  Mycenae.  The  double  axe  also 
occurs  on  seals  and  in  frescoes,  often  in  combination  with 
the  horns,  and  is,  moreover,  found  impressed  on  stucco  or 
cut  on  stonework. 
I  D  49 


Griffins  and  Pii,i,ar 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

In  the  great  Palace  of  Cnossus  this  Labrys,  or  double  axe,  is 

to  be  seen  on  many  a  pillar  or  block,  and  it  can  scarcely  be 

doubted  that  Labyrinth 
means  '  the  house  [or 
place]  of  the  double  axe.' 
The  word  Labrys  is  said 
to  be  Carian.  It  occurs 
in  the  title  Labraunda, 
given  to  the  Carian  Zeus. 
The  termination  -nth  we 
have  already  noted  as 
probably  Aegaean.  What 
was  symbohzed  by  the 
Cretan  I^abrys,  or  double 
axe,  is  not  known,  but 
it  has  been  supposed  that 
it  may  have  intimated 
the  combined  godhead  of 

Sun  and  Moon,  or  of  the  ancient  Cretan  Karth-goddess  and 

the  Cretan  Zeus.     The  symbol  is  not  confined  to  Crete.    It  may 

be  seen   on   Carian 

and  other   coins 

(Plates 1. 5  and V.  2). 
Besides  the  horns 

and  the  axe  we  find 

the  pillar — evidently 

also    a    symbol    of 

divine    presence,  as 

was    probably    the 

pillar  set  up  by  J  acob 

at   Bethel.     In  the 

picture  of  the  I^ion 

Gate     at    Mycenae 

(Fig.  2)  and  in  the 

figure  with  griffins  it  will  be  seen  that  between  the  animals  stands 

a  pillar,  whereas  in  the  next  illustration  we  have  the  same 

motive,  but  the  goddess  herself  has  taken  the  place  of  the  pillar. 

SO 


27.    BaRTH-GODDESS  and   I/IONS 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

Another  symbol,  or  sacred  object,  is  a  tree  that  reminds 
one  somewhat  of  the  ancient  Babylonian  and  BibHcal  Tree  of 


28.  RrruAi,  Dance  and  UrRooTiNG  of  Sacred  Tree 


lyife  or  of  Knowledge.  It  occurs  on  gems  and  seals  and  in 
paintings  (see  Figs.  7  and  28).  Sometimes  it  is  being  watered 
by  grotesque  genii,  or  is  being  uprooted  by  a  priest,  or  it 
bears  great  bunches  of  fruit  like 
dates,  which  in  one  case  are  being 
gathered  by  a  diminutive  female. 

Another  very  interesting  sacred 
object — for  such  it  seems  to  be,  as 
it  was  found  in  a  shrine — is  a  cross 
of  grey  and  yellow  marble,  which  is 
exactly  like  a  Christian  cross  "  of 
orthodox  Greek  shape,"  as  Sir 
Arthur  Evans  says.  A  model  of 
this  cross  may  be  seen  in  the  British 
Museum. 

Many  rude  idols  have  been  found — mostly  legless  and 
armless — merely  grotesque  attempts  to  represent  the  super- 
natural. Remarkable  evidences  of  demon  and  bogy 
worship  are  given  by  numerous  seals  and  gems  (see 
Fig.  31),  where  we  find  hideous  and  monstrous  combinations 

SI 


29.  Genii  (Priests  ?) 
WATERING  Sacred  Tree 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
of  bird,  beast,  and  human  being.     Perhaps  they  were  used  as 
charms.^ 

But  the  most  important  fact  of  this  nature  that  has  been 
brought  to  Hght  by  excavation  is  that  the  most  ancient  Cretan 
deity  was  a  goddess  whom  we  meet  in  Greek  mythology 
under  various  names — for  doubtless  Ge  (Earth),  Cybele  ^  or 
Rhea  (daughter  of  Earth  and  the  Great  Mother  of  the  gods), 
Demeter  (Mother  Earth),  and  the  ancient  pre-Hellenic  or 
Asiatic  Hecate  or  Artemis  (triform  and  many-breasted)  are  all 


30.  Tiiiv  '  lyADY  oi'  WIJ.D  Creatures  ' 

closely  related  to  this  ancient  Cretan  goddess.  We  find  her, 
pictured  amidst  all  kinds  of  wild  animals,  as  the  goddess  of 
nature,  the  '  I^ady  of  Wild  Creatures  '  {irorvia  Qjjpcov),  as  was 
the  later  Artemis.  Frequently,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
she  is  attended  by  lions,  or  by  serpents  which  coil  them- 
selves around  her.  Possibly  as  goddess  of  the  air  she  is 
given  doves  and  other  birds,  as  goddess  of  earth  she  is  attended 

*  Some  hold  these  monstrous  forms  to  be  priests  or  priestesses  in  disguise, 
perhaps  performing  a  kind  of  transformation  dance. 

*  Semele  (mother  of  Dionysus)  may  also  mean  '  Barth-goddess  *  and  be 
another  form  of  Cybele.  Both  Cybele  and  Dionysus  are  attended  by  lions. 
Cybele  (also  Cybelle  and  perhaps  Cybebe)  seems  to  have  been  the  Phrygian 
name  of  Rhea. 

S2 


f3i.  Crbxan  Seai,s  (from"_Zakro) 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
by  lions,  and  as  goddess  of  the   nether  world  she  has  the 
serpent,  thus  resembling  the  triform  Hecate — who  was  moon- 
goddess  Selene  in  heaven,  the  huntress  Artemis  on  earth,  and 
identical  with  Persephone  in  Hades. 

According  to  the  Theogony  of  Hesiod  the  first  of  all  things 
that  sprang  from  Chaos  was  Gaia,  or  Ge  (Earth),  who  by 
Uranus  (Heaven)  was  the  mother  of  the  Titan-god  Cronos 
(Time?).  The  sister  and  wife  of  this  old  god  Cronos  was 
Rhea  (Rheia),  or  Cybele,  and  their  children  were  the  elder 
Olympian  gods,  Demeter,  Hera,  Hades,  Poseidon,  and  Zeus 
(who  seems  to  have  been  not  the  eldest,  though  the  King  of 
Olympus).  Now  Cronos  had  the  habit  of  swallowing  his 
offspring,  but  Rhea  fled  to  Crete  and  gave  birth  to  Zeus 
in  a  cavern  on  Mount  Ida  or  Mount  Dicte ;  or,  according 
to  Hesiod,  she  gave  over  the  child  to  "  mighty  Gaia  in 
broad  Crete  to  nurse  and  rear,*'  and  Gaia  hid  it  "in  an 
inaccessible  cavern  under  the  divine  earth  on  the  Aegaean  ^ 
mount." 

It  seems  therefore,  I  think,  very  probable  that  the  ancient 
Nature-goddess  whose  effigies  have  been  found  in  Crete  is 
this  '  mighty  Gaia '  of  Hesiod — though  doubtless  she  was 
assimilated  to  her  daughter  Rhea,  who,  as  the  mother  of  Zeus 
Cretagenes,  is  called  the  Idaean  or  Dictaean,  or  the  Mountain 
Mother  ClSala,  AiKTvvpa,  Mrjrtjp  opelrj). 

We  have  seen  how  Greek  mythology  brings  the  northern  god 
Zeus  to  Crete.  His  worship  there  was  not  grafted  on  to  the  old 
religion  till  the  advent  of  northern  invaders,  who  made  their 
supreme  Sky-god  the  son  of  the  ancient  Cretan  Earth-Mother. ^ 
On  old  Cretan  seals  and  gems  there  appears  associated  with  the 
great  goddess  what  seems  to  be  an  inferior  male  deity.  He 
sometimes  stands  in  a  reverential  attitude  before  her  (as 
perhaps  in  Fig.  27),  and  is  also  depicted  as  floating  in  the 

^  Aegaean  (Aigaios)  seems  to  come  from  some  Pelasgic  or  Aegaean  word 
of  unknown  meaning.  The  name  of  this  Cretan  mountain  may  have  given 
rise  to  the  myth  that  Zeus  was  suckled  in  the  Dictaean  cave  by  the  goat 
Amalthea  (Grk.  aigeios  =  *  of  a  goat ').  Later  writers  derive  '  Aegaean  ' 
from  Aegeus,  the  father  of  Theseus. 

2  On  coins  of  Phaestus  Zeus  is  represented  as  quite  young. 

54 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

sky  and  apparently  beating  his  figure-of-eight  shield  with 
his  spear  (Fig.  7).  This  possibly  is  meant  to  represent  a 
sky-god  producing  thunder,  but  he  cannot  well  be  Zeus,  for 
these  relics  date  from  an  age  far  anterior  to  the  introduction 
of  the  northern  god.  This  inferior  male  deity  was  perhaps 
fused  into  the  person  of  Zeus  Cretagenes. 

There  were  other  localities  that  claimed  to  be  the  birth- 
place of  Zeus,  among  them  Thebes  and  Ithome,  and  also 
the  Trojan  Ida,  but  the  claims  of  Crete  were  generally 
recognized. 

A  curious  ancient  legend  relates  that  Zeus — weary  perhaps 
of  sovereignty — retired  to  Crete  and  died  there.  His  tomb  was 
said  to  be  on  Mount  Juktas,  near  Cnossus.  Doubtless  this 
legend  inspired  the  wondrous  description  by  Dante  of  the 
gigantic  image  (Hke  that  of  Daniel's  dream)  of  Time,  or  the 
World's  Ages,  standing  within  the  Cretan  Ida.  The  claim 
of  the  Cretans  to  possess  the  tomb  of  the  king  of  the  gods  is  said 
to  have  caused,  or  increased,  their  reputation  as  liars  ;  but  if 
the  verse  quoted  by  St.  Paul  was  written  by  Epimenides 
(c.  600)  they  seem  to  have  had  the  reputation  considerably 
before  what  one  would  consider  the  probable  date  of  the 
decease  of  Zeus. 

There  seem  to  be  also  evidences  of  a  younger  Cretan  goddess, 
the  daughter  of  the  Earth-Mother,  whose  presence  some  suspect 
in  the  stories  of  Britomartis,  Europa,  and  Ariadne.  In  later 
times  she  seems  sometimes  to  have  been  identified  with 
Aphrodite  ( Astarte) ,  but  her  true  representative  in  the  Olympian 
family  is  doubtless  Kore  {i.e.  the  Maiden),  the  daughter  of 
Demeter,  or  Ge-meter,  the  Earth-Mother.  This  Maiden,  it  is 
fabled,  was  carried  off  by  Hades  to  his  realm  of  darkness 
while  she  was  gathering  flowers,  and  under  the  name  of 
Persephone  was  made  the  Queen  of  the  Underworld,  but  was 
allowed  every  year  to  return  to  her  mother  Earth — an  allegory 
of  the  yearly  return  of  spring  (see  Fig.  32) . 

Besides  these  ancient  Cretan  deities  there  are,  as  we  have 
seen,  many  evidences  of  a  monstrous  bull-headed  deity — 
whether  of  native  origin   or  derived  from  some  tauriform 

5S 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Oriental  deity,  such  as  Moloch,  or  from  the  bull-Dionysus  of 
Thrace,  of  whose  orgies  I  have  already  spoken,  it  is  impossible 
to  feel  certain.  ''  Of  the  ritual  of  the  Bull-god  in  Crete,"  says 
Miss  Harrison,  "  we  know  that  it  consisted  in  part  of  the 
tearing  and  eating  of  a  bull ;  and  behind  is  the  dreadful 
suspicion  of  human  sacrifice."  As  we  have  already  seen, 
Minos  was  probably  the  high-priest,  and  was  possibly  even 
regarded  as  the  incarnation,  of  this  monstrous  deity,  and  may 


32.   The  return  of  the  Barth-Maiden  (here  Pandora) 


have  himself  been  sacrificed  in  the  Dictaean  cave  at  the  end  of 
his  nine  years  of  sovereignty.  The  later  legend  makes  Zeus 
the  original  Phoenician-Cretan  Bull-god,  and  Minos  his  son, 
but  it  seems  more  Hkely  that  the  monstrous  deity  existed  in 
Crete  long  before  the  advent  of  Zeus  or  of  the  Phoenicians, 
and  that  behind  the  horrid  story  of  Pasiphae  and  the 
Minotaur  ''  there  lurks  some  mystical  ceremony  of  ritual 
wedlock  [of  the  Cretan  queen]  with  a  primitive  bull-headed 
divinity." 

How  far  this  ancient  Cretan  religion  was  similar  to  the  rehgion 
of  pre-Hellenic  Greece  it  is  impossible  to  say.    The  day  may 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

soon  come  when  a  sudden  shaft  of  light  will  be  let  into  what  is 
still  a  very  dark  corner  of  history.  At  present  we  can  only 
point  to  the  fact  that  numerous  signs  of  connexion  have  been 
discovered.  The  bull  is  found  in  Mycenaean  art ;  the  horns 
of  consecration,  the  double  axe,  and  the  sacred  tree  occur 
on  (perhaps  native)  gems  and  plaques  and  rings,  and  in 
many  ancient  tombs  in  Greece  and  the  Aegaean  islands 
small  rude  idols  of  stone,  bronze,  lead,  and  gold  have  been 
found  which  seem  to  represent  a  Nature-goddess  (sometimes 
attended  by  birds)  similar  to,  if  not  identical  with,  the  Cretan 
Gaia. 

This  is  practically  all  that  is  known  of  the  religion  of  Greece 
before  the  coming  of  the  Achaeans  and  the  Olympian  gods, 
and,  except  what  we  are  told  by  Homer  and  Hesiod,  and  the 
still  more  doubtful  evidence  that  we  gather  from  what  was 
related  afterwards  by  Herodotus  and  other  Greek  writers, 
almost  all  our  knowledge  of  the  Olympian  gods  and  ritual 
begins  after  the  Dark  Age  of  some  three  centuries  which 
followed  the  next  invasion  of  northmen,  that  of  the 
Dorians. 

A  few  facts,  however,  seem  to  emerge  here  and  there,  and 
these  we  will  consider  in  combination  with  what  we  are  told 
by  Homer.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  Homer  wrote 
perhaps  three  centuries  after  the  Achaean,  or  heroic,  age, 
and  may  have  indulged  in  a  good  deal  of  imaginative  recon- 
struction. 

In  Homer  we  find  the  regime  of  the  new  gods  already  well 
estabhshed.  Each  has  his  or  her  special  functions  and 
appointed  place  in  the  Olympian  family,  and  instead  of  a 
Mighty  Mother  we  have  a  well-marked  patria  potestas.  There 
are,  indeed,  signs  that  the  worship  of  these  new  gods  had 
already  lasted  a  considerable  time,  for  familiarity  had  already 
bred  contempt,  and  the  behaviour  of  some  of  the  deities  as 
described  in  the  poems  was  such  as  to  excite  indignation  in 
the  mind  of  even  such  a  philosopher  as  Plato. 

Of  most  of  these  Olympians  it  is  difficult  to  trace  the 
lineage.     In  some  cases  they  are  doubtless  grand  and  beautiful 

57 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
re-creations,  the  prime  elements  of  which  were  deities  of  the 
older  religions,  Northern,  Aegaean,  Pelasgian,  and  also  some- 
times Oriental.  But  Zeus  is  apparently  almost  purely  northern 
— the  Aryan  Dyaus-piter,  the  Day-Father  or  Sky-god,  and 
the  Papas  or  Bronton  (Father  or  Thunderer)  of  the  Phrygians. 
He  was  evidently  introduced  in  a  very  early  age  into  the 
mountainous  country  in  North-western  Greece  (Epirus,  or 
'  Mainland,'  as  it  was  called  by  the  islanders),  which,  as  well 
as  parts  of  Thessaly,  was  then  inhabited  by  Achaeans,  or 
others  of  the  same  race,  before  they  made  their  great  descent 
on  Southern  Greece.^  Kven  before  the  coming  of  the  Achaeans 
there  existed  in  Kpirus  the  far-famed  sanctuary  and  oracle 
of  Dodona,  where  some  Pelasgian  Barth-Mother  gave  responses 
through  her  priestesses  by  the  murmuring  of  her  doves. 
This  sanctuary  was,  it  seems,  annexed  by  the  northern  Zeus, 
who  (as  Homer  tells  us)  adopted  the  name  of  the  *  Dodonaean  ' 
or  '  Pelasgic '  Zeus.  As  god  of  the  air  he  gave  his  oracles 
through  the  voices  of  winds  moaning  and  rustling  in  his  sacred 
oak-grove  amidst  the  murmur  of  falling  waters  and  the  clangor 
of  bronzen  vessels  struck  by  wind-moved  hammers.  lyater 
he  was  brought  to  other  Pelasgic  and  Aegaean  lands,  and 
given  the  kingship  of  the  new  Olympian  hierarchy.  Apollo 
was  also  doubtless  of  northern  origin,  but  his  many  diverse 
attributes  (as  Sender  of  Pestilence,  Sun-god,  Harp-god,  8z:c.) 
show  that  he  was  a  re-creation  out  of  various  deities.  There 
was  later  a  Dorian  Apollo  with  special  attributes  (see  Pindar, 
Pyth.  v.),  of  whom  many  old  statues  ^  seem  to  be  repre- 
sentations, but  by  the  Achaeans,  if  we  may  believe  Homer, 
Apollo  was  worshipped  as  Phoebus,  ''  the  bright  sun-god " 
and  sender  of  sudden  death.  Hermes,  the  Messenger,  was 
probably  a  native  Aegaean  (Arcadian)  god.  The  Hermes 
statues  of  later  art  seem  to  be  a  survival  of  old  legless  and 
armless    idols.      Demeter,    as   we   have   already   seen,    was 

^  The  Achaeans  were  apparently  driven  finally  from  Epirus  about  the  time 
of  the  Dorian  invasion  of  Greece  {c.  iioo)  by  a  barbaric  northern  tribe,  the 
Illyrians.  Epirus  and  Aetolia  thenceforth  were  regarded  as  mainly  barbarian 
(non-Hellenic)  lands. 

2  For  these  '  Apollos  '  see  p.  225. 

58 


33-  MiNOAN,  Mycenaean,  and  Trojan  Ware 
c.  2000-1300 

See  List  of  Illustrations  and  Note  D 


58 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

as  the  Homeric  question  or  the  Athenian  Constitution,  derive 
their  only  real  value  and  interest  from  the  fact  that  they  lead 
us  towards  a  better  understanding  and  a  fuller  appreciation 
of  the  art  and  literature  and  philosophy  of  Greece,  and  of  the 
character  of  her  greatest  men. 


SECTION  C  :   THE  'HOMERIC  AGE  '  AND  HOMER 

Homer  and  the  '  Homeric  age  '  do  not  really  belong  to  the 
same  period,  for  the  Homeric  poems — even  the  earliest  parts 
of  them — were  not  written  in  the  age  that  they  describe,  as 
is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  poet  frequently  speaks  of 
the  men  of  his  own  age  as  far  inferior  to  the  heroes  who  fought 
at  Troy,  although  these  were  again  inferior  to  the  greater 
heroes  of  an  earlier  age,  such  as  Heracles  {II.  v.  304 ;  Od.  viii. 
223,  &c.) .  But  it  is  necessary  to  treat  the  two  subjects  together, 
for  these  poems  are  the  only  evidence  of  this  Achaean  or 
Homeric  age.  The  Mycenaean  shaft-graves  have  indeed 
supplied  evidence  of  an  age  of  unsuspected  civilization,  but, 
as  we  have  seen,  great  differences  are  apparent  in  regard  to 
dress,  armour,  disposal  of  the  dead,  and  probably  rehgion, 
between  the  Mycenaean  civilization  and  that  world  which 
Homer  describes.  These  differences  and  the  necessary  supposi- 
tion of  an  almost  incredibly  rapid  and  complete  development 
of  another  state  of  things,  and  of  another  entirely  different 
conception  of  deity,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  we  have  prac- 
tically no  evidence  whatever  of  this  *  Homeric  age  '  except 
what  we  are  told  by  the  Homeric  poems,  have  made  some 
writers  assert  that  these  poems  give  merely  an  imaginative 
picture  of  a  world  that  never  existed,  and  that,  except  a  small 
'  nucleus '  (some  ancient  ballad  describing  the  *  wrath '  of  a 
sea-god,  Achilles,  against  a  land-god,  Agamemnon,  both  of 
whom  had  their  habitat  somewhere  in  Thessaly,  whence  they 
were  transported  by  later  Homeric  bards  to  the  Peloponnese), 
the  Iliad  is  a  farrago  compounded  by  several  generations 
of  rhapsodists,  a  kind  of  epical  romance  in  which  the  fiction 
of  some  long-past  mythical  age  was  depicted  and  from  which 
60 


THE   AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

almost  all  anachronisms  ^  were  carefully  eliminated  by  the 
bards  themselves  and  their  critical  auditors.  The  Odyssey, 
according  to  such  critics,  is  of  much  later  date  than  the  older 
parts  of  the  Iliad,  and  was  compiled  by  similar  bards,  or 
perhaps  by  a  single  highly  gifted  bard,  from  old  stories  of 
adventures  in  the  Kuxine,  which  were  transferred  to  western 
seas. 2  Moreover,  Odysseus  was  "  only  a  god,''  and  Penelope 
only  a  goddess. 

There  certainly  is  much  vagueness  in  the  geography  of 
the  Odyssey,  and  evident  confusion  of  the  far  Bast  with 
the  far  West.  Circe's  original  home  was  Colchis,  and 
her  island  Aeaea  is  said  to  have  been  near  the  sunrise.  (She 
and  her  brother  Aeetes  were  both,  perhaps,  originally 
bird-headed  Eastern  deities.)  Moreover,  the  original  home 
of  the  Cimmerians  was  evidently  the  Crimea.  Altogether 
there  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt  that  the  poems,  especially 
the  Iliad,  underwent  in  the  course  of  centuries  of  pubhc 
recitation  a  certain  amount  of  pruning  and  reshaping,  that 
ancient  AeoHc  words  may  have  been  modernized  into  the 
later  Ionian  dialect,  and  that  lines  glorifying  certain  famiHes 
or  places  may  have  been  inserted,  and  possibly  also  some 
episodes.  Moreover,  it  is  possible  that  when  the  poems 
were  arranged  into  books  and  canonized  in  the  age  of  Peisis- 
tratus  (about  520)  some  readjustment  and  welding  took  place. 
But  any  long  disquisition   on  these  much-vexed    questions 

1  Such  writers  point  gleefully  to  numerous  cases  where  "good  old  Homer 
is  caught  napping  "  (to  use  Horace's  expression) — various  inconsistencies  and 
slips  of  memory,  such  as  occur  in  the  best  of  poets.  They  also  assert  that  he 
sometimes  describes  shields  as  man-covering  and  as  huge  "  as  a  tower,"  and 
at  other  times  gives  the  warriors  the  small  round  Carian  shield  and  breast- 
plates, &c. — as  if  different  kinds  of  shield  and  armour  might  not  have  been 
in  use  !  Also  they  point  at  the  mention  of  iron  {Od.  xix.  13)  as  "  attracting 
[to  bloodshed],"  whereas  iron  is  elsewhere  in  the  poems  used  only  for  knives 
and  axes — not  for  weapons.  But  the  '  Iron  Age  '  had  already  begun,  and  it 
rwas  doubtless  used  already  for  weapons,  though  '  bronze  '  was  the  usual  term 
in  poetry.  How  plentiful  iron  already  was  is  plain  from  Od.  i.  184,  where  a 
iwhole  cargo  of  it  is  brought  from  Temesa  (in  Italy  ?). 

*  A  French  writer,  Berard,  has  endeavoured  to  prove  that  the  Odyssey  is 
founded  on  the  log-books  of  Phoenicians  (who  certainly  as  early  as  the  time 
of  Solomon  visited  Spain,  and  perhaps  South  Africa),  and  discovers  Calypso's 
island  on  the  African  coast  not  far  from  Gibraltar. 

61 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

would  be  here  out  of  place,  and  I  shall  merely  state  my  own 
slowly  formed  conviction  that  both  these  poems  owe  their 
main  structure  and  most  of  their  details  to  one  great  poet, 
that  the  age  which  he  depicted  was  no  mere  fiction,  and  that 
he  lived  near  enough  to  that  age  to  paint,  by  the  help  of 
traditions  and  ballads,  its  main  features  with  very  considerable 
exactitude.  It  is  a  saying  of  Socrates  that  ''  about  flute- 
playing  musicians  judge  best,  and  about  poetry  poets."  When 
the  poet  Goethe  first  read  the  celebrated  Prolegomena  of  the 
German  scholar  Wolf,  the  originator  of  modern  Homer- 
scepticism,  he  was  puzzled  and  half  convinced.  But  he  very 
wisely  determined  to  re-read  Homer,  and  ended  by  recanting 
his  half  assent  to  the  "  subjective  stuff  and  nonsense," 
declaring  that  "behind  these  poems  there  stands  a  splendid 
unity — a  single,  lofty,  creative  mind."  It  was  doubtless 
a  similar  poetic  instinct,  innate  in  the  Greek  race,  which 
preserved  the  true  Homer  in  the  midst  of  a  mass  of  inferior 
ballad-epics  (those  of  the  so-called  Cyclic  poets),  many  of 
which  had  appropriated  his  name,  and  finally  sifted  out  the 
true  ore  and  cast  aside  the  rubbish.  J 

The  old  Boeotian  poet  Hesiod,  whose  date  and  works  have 
been  subjected  to  a  similar  critical  process,  but  whom  (as  I  shall 
explain  later)  we  may  very  reasonably  beHeve  to  have  lived 
not  much  later  than  Homer  (possibly  c.  850),  gives  testimony, 
of  course  rejected  by  the  critics  in  question,  that  an  age  of 
heroes  preceded  his  own  age  (the  age  of  iron).  In  this  heroic 
age,  he  says,  took  place  the  expedition  of  the  Seven  against 
seven-gated  Thebes,  and  that  against  Troy  for  the  sake  of 
fair-haired  Helen.  I^astly,  Herodotus,  whose  testimony  is 
however  of  a  much  later  date  (about  480-430),  tells  us  that 
he  beHeved  Homer  and  Hesiod  to  have  both  lived  400  years 
before  his  time,  and  after  hearing  all  that  modern  criticism 
has  to  say  I  think  we  may  quite  reasonably  accept  this  as 
fairly  correct,  placing  Homer  from  half  a  century  to  a  century 
before  Hesiod — i.e.  about  900  or  950. 

Seven  cities  claimed  to  have  been  the  birthplace  of  Homer. 
The  presence  of  Aeolic  forms  in  his  Ionic  Greek  seems  to  prove 
62 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

that  he  Hved  in  Southern  AeoHs,  perhaps  in  Chios,  or  in  Cyme 
or  in  its  daughter-city  old  Smyrna,  which  was  then  AeoHan. 
(It  was  afterwards  moved  a  few  miles  south  over  the  Ionian 
frontier.  But  Ionia  perhaps  did  not  already  exist  as  a  defined 
country  in  Homer's  time.)  Some,  indeed,  imagine  that  the 
oldest  strata  of  the  Homeric  poems  were  written  entirely  in 
'  ancient  Aeolic  '  (a  dialect  related  to  the  later  '  lycsbian  '  of 
Sappho  and  Alcaeus),  and  afterwards  worked  over  into  Ionic 
(an  early  dialect  of  the  Ionic  used  some  four  centuries  later  by 
Herodotus),  Aeolian  forms  being  left  when  the  scansion  did 
not  allow  of  change.  This  is,  of  course,  pure  guesswork, 
as  is  also  the  theory  that  the  old  Achaeans  of  Thessaly  in- 
vented the  hexameter  rhythm,  and  that  their  ancient  ballads 
about  their  local  feuds  formed  the  basis  of  the  Trojan  fiction  ; 
but  until  this  is  proved  I  think  we  may  reasonably  believe 
that  Homer  belonged  to  one  of  the  early  '  Ionian '  colonial 
families  who  began  to  come  over  about  1040,  some  150  years 
after  the  fall  of  Troy  had  first  attracted  Achaeans  and  other 
Greeks  to  settle  in  Aeolis.  Who  these  '  lonians  '  were  I  shall 
discuss  in  the  following  chapter.  Possibly  Homer,  though 
himself  Ionian,  lived  across  the  Aeolian  (Achaean)  border, 
and  thus  came  across  the  old  Aeolic  (Achaean)  ballads  (pos- 
sibly in  hexameter  rhythm)  and  thence  formed  his  great 
epic,  finding  eager  auditors  amongst  the  descendants  of  those 
Achaeans  who  had  sacked  Troy  and  opened  up  the  country 
to  Greek  colonization.  Whether  Homer  himself  emigrated 
from  Greece,  or  whether  he  ever  visited  Greece,  it  is  impossible 
to  say.  Hesiod  uses  words  which  have  been  made  to  mean 
that  he  met  Homer  at  Chalcis,  in  Buboea,  and  conquered 
him  in  a  poetical  contest ;  indeed,  a  varia  lectio  of  these  words 
(E.  657)  asserts  this ;  but  it  is  very  improbable.  Homer  how- 
ever knew  Greece  well,  though  he  may  never  have  seen  it.  The 
local  colour  of  his  poems  is  that  of  the  mother- country,  and 
not  of  Asia  Minor.  His  gods  and  his  Muses  dwell  evidently 
on  the  Thessalian  Olympus.  Achaea,  Pylos,  Mycenae,  Argos, 
|Phthia,  and  all  other  Greek  places,  are  spoken  of  with  a  kind 
of  Heimweh;  and  how  often  do  the  expressions  '  homewards/ 

63 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
'  fatherland/  *  land  of  his  fathers '  occur  !  On  the  other  hand, 
Asia  Minor  is  for  Homer  a  wild  un-Greek  country.  Of 
Phrygia,  Maeonia,  I^ycia,  and  of  islands  such  as  I^esbos  and 
Chios  we  hear  [Od.  iii.  170),  but  no  word  of  AeoHs  or  of 
Ionia  as  Greek  colonies.  Miletus  is  mentioned  as  ruled  by 
the  "  Carians  of  barbarous  tongue."  Doubtless  Homer  lived 
after  the  Dorian  invasion  of  the  Eastern  Peloponnese  (about 
iioo),  and  he  mentions  Dorians  as  already  in  Crete ;  but 
he  so  entirely  ignores  them  otherwise  that  it  seems  hardly 
possible  that  they  could  have  already  conquered  Argos  and 
Mycenae,  and  have  become  the  dominant  race  in  Southern 
Greece,  which  happened,  as  we  shall  see  later,  about  950. 

But  all  these  questions  as  to  personality  and  date  are 
of  very  trivial  importance  in  comparison  with  the  priceless 
legacy  of  the  Homeric  poems — which  were  not  written,  as  is 
too  often  assumed,  for  the  antiquarian  and  the  philologist. 
Possibly  some  day  another  Schliemann  will  excavate  not 
only  the  tomb  of  Zeus  in  Crete  but  even  Homer's  tomb  in  the 
island  of  los,  where  the  pseudo-Herodotus  asserts  that  he  was 
buried,  and  put  an  end  to  all  our  polemics  as  well  perhaps 
as  to  such  theories  as  that  Odysseus  was  "  only  a  god,"  or 
that  the  authoress  of  the  Odyssey  was  Nausicaa  herself — 
which  has  been  seriously  affirmed  by  the  talented  author  of 
Erewhon. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  retell  the  oft-told  tale  of 
Troy  and  the  Wanderings  of  Odysseus,  but  for  those  who 
do  not  reject  the  world  of  Homer  as  a  fiction  it  is  intensely 
interesting  to  examine  his  evidence — the  only  evidence  we 
possess — in  regard  to  this  age  of  Achaean  supremacy.  I  will 
therefore  note  a  few  points. 

In  the  Iliad  we  find  the  Achaeans  and  their  Argive  soldiery 
under  the  abnormal  (though  perhaps  for  them  not  uncommon) 
conditions  of  war  and  camp-life  in  a  foreign  land,  and  although 
we  learn  less  of  the  state  of  civilization  than  we  might  have 
learnt  had  the  scene  of  the  epic  been  laid  at  Sparta  or  Mycenae, 
we  learn  much  else.  In  the  Odyssey,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
have  descriptions  of  home  life  :    of  palaces,  of  farmsteads 

64 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

and  orchards  and  agriculture,  of  the  cottages  and  work  of 
herdsmen,  of  townsfolk  and  their  town,  of  meetings  of  the 
citizens,  of  busy  wharves  and  arsenals  and  shipping,  of  masters 
and  mistresses  amid  their  servants  and  thralls ;  and,  besides 
these  Ithacan  and  Phaeacian  pictures,  we  are  given  particulars 
of  a  chariot  journey  (evidently  on  a  tolerably  good  road) 
across  a  part  of  the  Peloponnese  and  a  very  distinct  picture  of 
the  home  of  Menelaus  and  Helen  at  Sparta,  and  also  a  glimpse  of 
the  Mycenaean  palace  of  Agamemnon.  By  means  of  all  these 
various  pictures,  and  by  fitting  together  the  almost  innumerable 
details  that  we  find  in  both  poems,  we  are  able  to  form  a  fairly 
complete  conception  of  the  Achaean  world  in  peace  ^  and  in 
war. 

Pictures  of  religious  rites,  of  sacrifices  and  libations  and 
funeral  ceremonies  are  frequent,  and  sometimes  we  are  reminded 
of  the  old  rehgion.  Thus  in  the  visit  to  Hades  {Od.  xi.)  we 
have  a  threefold  libation  to  the  ghosts  of  the  dead — of  honey- 
milk,  of  wine,  and  of  water — reminding  us  of  an  ancient 
Cretan  libation  table  with  three  basins  found  in  the  Dictaean 
cave.  Moreover,  on  the  same  occasion  Odysseus  fills  a  hole 
that  he  had  dug  in  the  ground  with  the  blood  of  victims, 
and  the  ghosts  come  flocking  round  it  in  their  longing  to  drink — 
a  picture  that  recalls  the  '  feeding  holes '  for  blood  libation 
which  have  been  found  on  the  summit  of  Mycenaean  tombs. 
Again,  many  instances  occur  of  sanctuaries  and  altars  in  the 
open  air,  under  oaks  and  plane-trees  and  palms  {Od.  vi.  162), 
and  there  is  frequent  mention  of  sacred  groves  and  sacred 
precincts.  But  we  also  have  a  few  definite  references  to 
temples — such  as  the  ''house  of  Krechtheus''  at  Athens 
(possibly  a  late  accretion)  and  the  "  temples  of  the  gods  "  and 
the   "shrine   of  Poseidon"    (evidently  not  a  grove)  in  the 

*  In  the  following  very  incomplete  list  every  word  conjures  up  some 
)icture  or  series  of  pictures  for  any  one  who  knows  the  Odyssey  :  Spinning, 
laving,  dress,  beds,  tables,  chairs,  metal-work,  inlaying,  forging,  goblets, 
rooches,  hunting,  fishing,  vineyards,  gardening,  bathing,  swimming,  horses, 
lules,  goats,  cattle,  swine,  geese,  dogs,  lions,  eagles,  palaces,  house-building, 
lip-building,  raft-building,  sailing,  rowing,  feasting,  athletic  games,  boxing, 
raughts,  ball-playing,  acrobats,  dancing,  music,  law-courts,  funerals, 
icrifices,  beggars,  clothes-washing,  wagons,  chariots. 

E  65 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Phaeacian  city  {Od.  vi.  lo  and  266),  and  in  the  sixth  book  of 
the  Iliad  there  is  given  with  a  few  touches  a  fine  sketch  of  the 
temple  of  Athene  in  Troy  and  the  seated  statue  of  the  goddess, 
on  whose  knees  (1.  273)  Hecabe  lays  a  peplos,  just  as  was  still 
done  by  the  Athenians  of  the  age  of  Pericles  at  the  Panathenaic 
festival — a  scene  depicted  on  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon. 
There  are  also  descriptions  of  funeral  ceremonies,  such  as  the 
celebrated  picture  of  the  funeral  of  Patroclus  in  the  twenty- 
third  book  of  the  Iliad,  and  the  exquisitely  beautiful,  though 
possibly  not  Homeric,^  scene  of  the  mourning  for  Achilles  (Od. 
xxiv.),  and  the  cortege  round  his  funeral  pyre,  and  the  pathetic 
lines  which  tell  us  how  Odysseus  and  his  men  felled  trees  and 
built  a  pyre  and  burnt  the  body  of  their  comrade  Elpenor, 
and  how  they  then  piled  a  mound  above  his  buried  ashes  and 
erected  on  the  top  of  the  mound  the  oar  "  with  which  in  life 
he  had  rowed  amidst  his  mates,''  as  his  ghost  in  Hades  had 
implored  them  to  do.  Achaean  funerals,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  were  generally  of  this  character — cremation  and  burial 
of  ashes.  There  is,  however,  one  word  (rapx^'etv)  thrice  used 
in  the  Iliad  which  seems  to  point  to  some  older  custom,  such 
as  was  prevalent  in  Egypt,  for  the  word  means  to  '  dry  '  (like 
smoked  fish). 

Among  the  Homeric  Achaeans  the  kingship  was  hereditary, 
although  it  seems  as  if  the  family  prerogative  had  to  be  con- 
firmed by  Zeus,  probably  through  oracular  response  or  omens, 
for  Telemachus  allows  this  (Od.  i.  386  sq.)  and  speaks  of  the 
possibility  of  some  other  of  the  Ithacan  princes  (whom  he  also 
calls  '  kings ' — (^aa-iXrjeg)  being  elected  instead  of  himself. 
In  the  Iliad  Agamemnon  is  the  over-lord  of  all  the  Achaean 
princes  and  the  head  of  the  army  ;  in  the  Odyssey  Odysseus 
is  the  over-lord  of  all  the  Ithacan  chieftains  and  nobles  and 
possesses  large  estates  and  many  flocks  and  herds  and  the  rights 

^  The  so-called  Ne'/cuta  Bevrepa  (second  visit  to  the  dead),  if  not  by  Homer 
himself,  is  worthy  of  him.  It  is  like  a  figure  by  Praxiteles  added  to  an  un- 
finished group  by  Pheidias.  Some  affirm  that  the  first  descent  (Book  XI) 
was  inserted  (and  composed  ?)  by  some  Orphic  teacher,  perhaps  Onomacritus, 
when  the  Homeric  poems  were  collected  and  arranged  in  the  time  of  Peisis- 
tratus.     This  I  prefer  not  to  believe. 

66 


THE   AEGAEAN   CIVILIZATION 

of  pasture  on  the  mainland  and  in  Ithaca.  The  king  has  a 
privy  council  (Boul^)  formed  of  elders  and  nobles,  and  there  is 
also  a  pubhc  assembly  (Agora),  which  in  the  Iliad  naturally 
consists  of  all  the  fighting  men — perhaps  of  others  too,  for  one 
can  hardly  conceive  Thersites  as  a  fighter.  In  the  Odyssey 
we  have  descriptions  of  both  Ithacan  and  Phaeacian  assemblies, 
consisting  evidently  of  all  the  free  men  of  the  state.  They 
seem,  as  a  rule,  to  have  been  summoned  merely  to  hear  the 
decisions  of  the  king  and  his  Boule;  but  sometimes  they 
certainly  took  their  own  course,  breaking  up  in  disorder, 
some  following    one  leader  and  some  another  {e.g.  Od.  iii. 

The  land  seems  to  have  belonged  mainly  to  the  Achaean 
noble  families,  who  probably  held  their  hereditary  title  from 
the  king  and  Boule.  There  seem  also  to  have  been  '  common 
lands '  (//.  xii.  422),  and  even  thralls,  such  as  the  swineherd 
Eumaeus,  could  receive  in  tenant-right  a  *  lot '  {KXttpog) 
from  his  lord,  and  those  who  were  not  landowners  {aKXr^poi) 
could  engage  farm-labourers  and  evidently  hire  land  for  culti- 
vation {Od.  xi.  490),  but  the  family  kleroi  (allotments)  probably 
took  up  most  of  the  good  soil  and  pasturage.  These  allot- 
ments could  be  divided  among  members  of  a  family  (in  Crete 
anyhow,  as  we  see  from  Od.  xiv.  209),  but,  being  held  in  feu- 
right  from  a  liege  lord,  could  not  be  sold.  Hesiod,  however, 
speaks  of  the  gods  granting  the  blessing  of  "  buying  your 
neighbour's  allotment  instead  of  his  buying  yours."  But 
that  was  later,  and  in  Boeotia. 

The  Homeric  palace,  or  large  house,  stood  often  in  a  palisaded 
or  walled  courtyard.  It  consisted  of  a  portico  and  a  raised 
'  stoep,'  where  guests  slept,  and  a  great  megaron  (hall)  which 
was  used  for  meals  and  also  as  a  sleeping-place  ;  but  there 
were  also  frequently  {e.g.  in  Odysseus'  palace)  workrooms  and 
bedrooms  in  the  back  part  of  the  house,  those  for  the  women 
upstairs.  Descriptions  are  given,  more  or  less  full,  of  the  palaces 
of  Odysseus,  Alcinous,  Menelaus,  Circe,  and  what  I  have  called 
glimpses  of  Agamemnon's  Mycenaean  palace  and  of  the  quarters 
of  Achilles  in  the  Greek  camp.     Circe's  palace  had  a  flat  roof 

67 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
where  guests  could  sleep.  The  palace  of  Alcinous  had  a  frieze, 
or  coping,  of  blue  glass-paste  {cyan)  such  as  has  been  found  in  a 
palace  at  Tiryns.  Its  walls  were  bronzen  (doubtless  plated  with 
bronze,  as  in  the  '  Treasury  of  Atreus  *  at  Mycenae),  and  its 
doors  and  door-handle  were  of  gold ;  the  door-posts  and  lintel 
were  of  silver  and  the  threshold  was  of  bronze.  The  palace 
of  Menelaus  is  described  as  gleaming  with  bronze,  gold,  amber, 
silver,  and  ivory. 

Art  treasures,  Achaean  and  Sidonian,  are  frequently  de- 
scribed :  metal-work,  embroidery,  fine-woven  cloths,  carved 
woodwork,  and  other  artistic  objects.  The  '  Shield  of  Achilles  ' 
testifies  to  a  high  proficiency  in  the  art  of  metal  inlay,  though 
we  must  perhaps  allow  something  for  imagination.  The  art 
of  writing  has  already  been  mentioned. 

Exceedingly  beautiful  are  the  relations  between  those  who  are 
bound  by  ties  of  affection  and  kinship.  Nowhere  in  literature 
is  to  be  found  anything  more  touching  and  beautiful  than  the 
love  of  Achilles  for  Patroclus,  of  Andromache  and  of  old 
Priam  for  Hector,  of  Hector  for  his  wife  and  child,  of  Tele- 
machus  for  his  mother,  of  Penelope  and  of  Anticleia  for 
Odysseus  ;  and  even  such  love  is  equalled  by  the  tender  affec- 
tion of  the  old  nurse  Kurycleia  and  the  swineherd  Kumaeus 
and  the  old  Dolius  (all  of  them  slaves)  for  their  masters  and 
their  mistress.  When  the  good  old  swineherd  saw  Telemachus 
once  more,  whom  he  feared  the  suitors  had  murdered, 

...  to  welcome  his  master  he  hastened. 
Kissed  him  on  both  of  his  cheeks,  on  his  beautiful  eyes  and  his  forehead, 
Kissed  him  on  both  of  his  hands,  while  big  tears  fell  from  his  eyelids. 

And  in  the  same  way  all  the  maids  who  had  remained 
faithful  to  Odysseus,  when  they  recognized  him  after  the 
slaughter  of  the  suitors,  crowded  round  him, 

Ivovingly  kissing  his  head  and  his  shoulders  in  token  of  welcome,  ^^ 

Grasping  and  kissing  his  hands.  jfl 

In  Homer  there  is  not  much  of  that  high-wrought  sentiment 
which  plays  such  a  large  part  in  modern  romance.  Indeed, 
there  is  a  good  deal  that  would  offend  the  deHcate  sensibiHties 
of  the  writer  and  reader  of  such  romance.  An  hour  or  so  after 
68 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

Odysseus'  rather  unconventional  interruption  of  their  ball- 
playing  on  the  river-bank,  Nausicaa  (who  was  a  lady  if  ever 
there  was  one)  confesses  openly  and  without  the  sHghtest 
touch  of  sentiment  to  her  maidens  that  she  would  be  deHghted 
to  have  him  as  a  husband. 

Passionate  love  seems  in  Homer  to  be  regarded  as  somewhat 
contemptible  as  well  as  dangerous.  The  names  of  Briseis, 
Calypso,  and  Circe  do  not  awaken  very  pleasant  associations. 
Helen  bitterly  bewails,  even  before  Priam,  the  madness  of 
passionate  love  sent  her  by  Aphrodite,  and  although  the 
greybeards  of  Troy  seem  to  condone  it  on  account  of  her 
irresistible  charms,  and  although — what  is  still  more  strange — 
Menelaus  himself  condones  it,  and  lives  contentedly  with  her 
after  her  ten  years'  infideHty,  the  general  verdict  seems  to 
agree  with  her  self-accusation  of  '  dog-faced '  shamelessness 
and  with  her  self -contempt.  Clytaemnestra  affords  another 
example.  She  is  described  by  Nestor  as  good  by  nature  ; 
but  ilHcit  love  maddened  her  and  led  her  to  murder  her 
husband.  With  the  deities  passion  cannot,  of  course,  lead  to 
crime,  for  they  are  above  law,  but  in  their  case  such  emotions 
are  represented  as  even  more  contemptible  and  ridiculous 
than  in  the  case  of  a  mortal ;  and  when  Hephaestus,  as  an 
injured  husband,  demands  compensation  of  Ares  (Od.  vii.) 
the  satire  reaches  its  climax. 

Nothing,  indeed,  is  more  remarkable  than  the  way  in 
which  the  gods — who  are  generally  treated  with  great  respect, 
and  even  veneration — are  satirized  in  this  matter.  The 
Homeric  Zeus  is  a  majestic  figure,  and  inspires  deep  rever- 
ence in  mortal  hearts,  but  he  does  not  escape  ridicule. 
Although  he  sends  Hermes  to  warn  Aegisthus  against 
his  design  of  seducing  Clytaemnestra,  the  Father  of  the 
Gods  himself  earns  an  unenviable  notoriety  in  matters  of 
love,  and  at  such  moments  stands  on  a  much  lower  moral 
level  than  mortals  such  as  Hector  or  Odysseus ;  for  though 
Odysseus  was  not  faultless,  the  relations  between  him  and 
tenelope  are  very  much  more  edifying  and  very  much  more 
beautiful  than  are  frequently  the  relations  between  the  King 

69 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
and  Queen  of  Heaven.  Indeed,  family  life  on  earth  is  pictured 
as  being  on  the  whole  happier  than  it  is  in  heaven.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  a  wife  was  often  practically  bought  by  the 
suitor  who  could  offer  the  largest  '  bride-gift '  to  the  parents, 
married  life  in  that  age,  if  we  may  accept  Homer's  descrip- 
tions, was  often  a  life  of  the  deepest  affection  and  of 
unbounded  confidence — such  a  life  as  Odysseus  himself 
pictured  to  Nausicaa : 

So  shall  the  gods  all  blessings  bestow  tha   thy  soul  desireth — 

Husband  and  home  ;   and  oneness  of  heart  may  heaven  vouchsafe  thee. 

Blessing  supreme — since  nought  can  be  wished  that  is  greater  and  better 

While  imited  in  heart  and  in  mind  are  dwelling  together 

Husband  and  wife.     'Tis  a  sight  brings  sorrow  to  wishers  of  evil, 

Joy  to  the  wishers  of  good.    But  the  joy  in  their  hearts  is  the  loudest. 

As  a  description  of  a  work  of  art — of  an  art  derived  from  the 
old  Mycenaean  and  Cretan  artists — the  *  Shield  of  Achilles ' 
(//.  xviii.)  is  of  great  interest  to  the  antiquarian,  but  its  chief 
value,  of  course,  consists  in  the  fact  that  it  is  magnificent  poetry 
and  that  it  gives  such  wondrously  vivid,  and  in  their  main 
features  doubtless  accurate,  pictures  of  the  life  of  this  age — the 
age  of  Achaean  supremacy.  The  fivefold  shield  was  wrought 
by  Hephaestus  of  "  unyielding  bronze  and  tin  and  costly 
gold  and  silver."  In  the  centre  he  fashioned  "  earth  and  sky 
and  sea  and  the  unwearied  sun  and  the  full  moon  and  all  the 
constellations  with  which  heaven  is  crowned,  the  Pleiades  and 
Hyades  and  Orion  and  the  Bear,  who  alone  hath  no  share  in  the 
baths  of  Ocean."  Round  the  outer  rim  flowed  the  "  mighty 
strength  of  the  river  of  Ocean,"  and  in  the  middle  space  were 
city  scenes  and  scenes  of  country  life.  First  we  have  scenes 
of  peace  within  a  city — a  bridal  procession,  a  court  of  law ; 
then  we  see  a  city  beleaguered,  and  warriors,  led  by  Ares  and 
Athene,  arming  for  a  sortie  and  an  ambuscade  ;  then  cattle- 
lifting  and  a  general  fray.  Next  come  pictures  of  rural  fife  : 
a  field  being  ploughed  by  many  ploughmen,  and  as  each  one 
reaches  the  limit  of  the  field  he  receives  a  cup  of  sweet  wine, 
and  turns  refreshed,  eager  to  reach  again  the  end  of  his  furrow, 
"  and  behind  him  it  grew  black,  and  looked  Hke  ploughed 
earth,  though  wrought  in  gold."  Then  we  have  a  reaping 
70 


THE    AEGAEAN    CIVILIZATION 

scene,  the  heavy  crop  falling  in  swaths  at  the  sweep  of  the 
sickles,  and  being  bound  into  sheaves,  while  the  king  looks  on 
in  silence  with  exultant  heart,  and  beneath  a  great  oak  a  banquet 
is  being  prepared.  Then  comes  a  vintage  scene — the  luscious 
fruit  borne  in  woven  baskets  amid  music  and  dancing.  Then 
herdsmen  drive  their  cattle  forth  to  pasture,  and  nigh  to  the 
watering-place  and  the  waving  reed-bed  two  lions  attack  and 
drag  off  a  bull,  while  the  men  vainly  urge  on  their  dogs,  who  bark 
furiously  but  keep  aloof.  Then  in  a  beautiful  valley  we  see 
a  great  flock  of  white  sheep  and  the  sheepfolds  and  the  shep- 
herds' huts.  lyastly,  there  is  a  dancing-ground  "  like  to  that 
which  once  Daedalus  made  in  broad  Cnossus  for  fair  Ariadne," 
and  here  maidens  and  youths  are  dancing,  those  crowned  with 
fair  garlands  and  these  with  golden  swords  hanging  from  silver 
baldricks,  and  two  acrobats  are  turning  somersaults  amidst 
the  surrounding  crowd  while  a  minstrel  makes  music  with  his 
harp. 

Very  interesting,  too,  is  the  description  of  the  dress  and 
the  golden  brooch  of  Odysseus.  The  passage  occurs  in  the 
fictitious  account  {Od.  xix.)  that  he  gives  Penelope  of  how 
once  in  Cretan  Cnossus  he  met  and  hospitably  entertained — 
himself  ! 

Purple  and  thick  was  the  cloak  that  was  worn  by  the  godlike  Odysseus, 
Twofold,  knit  by  a  brooch  that  was  fashioned  of  gold  and  was  furnished 
Doubly  with  sockets  for  pins ;  and  the  front  was  embossed  with  a  picture ; 
Here  was  a  hound  that  was  holding  a  dappled  fawn  with  his  forefeet, 
Watching  it  struggle  ;    and  all  that  beheld  were  greatly  astonished 
How,  though  golden,  the  hound  kept  watching  the  fawn  as  he  choked  it, 
While  in  the  longing  to  win  an  escape  with  the  legs  it  was  writhing. 
Further,  I  noticed  the  tunic  he  wore  :   'twas  of  linen  that  glister'd 
Like  to  the  delicate  skin  that  is  peeled  from  a  shrivelling  onion  ; 
Such  was  the  softness  thereof  ;  and  it  gleamed  as  the  sun  in  his  glory. 


71 


M    1  ja  o 

tn  O  So 


a 


.S2 


s "  a 

O   (/I   n 

w»5 


WW       K 

•r!  ft 


s.a  o 


C/3      C/3H 


-^  « 


2     of 


a  ^ 

00     u 


1° 


^.as 

•r<   be 

(I4 


u->  ca  ra 


2  «§  ^ 

d 
rt 


>   S 


-si- a 

.aSa-ai 

t-1   P  CIS 


G         1-1  "Q 

Jb  rt  o  S  « ::^'0  -a 


■  0Sgw2 


rt 


11:^ 

o      ?> 

-po  ftg 
«2  X  2 


i    I 
2    2 


a^l 


•^gao 

i2  ^  «  S 

>  c8  o  f*' 

o  dC-W 


ia-5 

J  CD  cijs 

A<  <u  a-^t; 
ga-SSi" 

tbJt  >^(d  a 


72 


S' 

3 

o 

a 

^ 

^_^ 

9, 

in  >~- 

S 

g^ 

^ 

Oifl 

o*: 

>> 

d'C 

a 

•2g 

o  d 

•t38 


c/^2 


J 

ID    PO 


>.     'S  H  (o 


Th  Ml 

isJi 

rt  -<  '-'  u_,  »Q 


•"^  O  C! 

o  o 

5  V  o 

i)  qP 


«l 


11 


?o 


§e 


O  ci  +j  ;-!  05  oj 


A  4iJ  CO  «  o 
N      2  9  2 

"  ^a    0 

rt    a  ^  5c  O 


1  I 

2  J 


3   Q,  d 
«   +j  o 


HpLi 


5t 

If 


•a  a  s"  .    8 

c  •%  0  d  8-^ 

^«     i2^-d 
;2;g^    J5cH 


> 

3  >> 


sQ 


i 

o 

"m 

d 

CU 

> 

.a 

« 
O 

9 

^ 

t-H 

•^  S 

f/1 

aa 

O   -M 

a 

S^ 

83 

o  8 

«o  .H 


2    g-S 


B'-S 


X  .a 

till 

OS'S 


2-    «  S,l 


U) 


« 


rt       o  rt 


^c^^^'S-g 


o  O 


M 


«  S  «  S3 


<«, 


i;l 


a  o 

SI 


rt  O 


^5i 


•3^ 


«  a'-S 


w       m  rt  rt  M-,  «  '3 
O-m-mTJotOo!- 

w  rt  ja  c9  <u  ., .»  d 

drtSrtS^^Sd 
rtrtd4»<o>g 


•^   d  3 
«)   P  « 


P2 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    DARK   AGE 

(c.  IIOO  TO  776) 

The  Dorians  :  The  Coi^onization  of  Aeoi<is,  Ionia,  and  Doris 

SECTIONS :  DIPYLON  ANTIQUITIES  :  HESIOD  :  THE  PHOENICIANS 
AND  SOME  OTHER  NATIONS  DURING  THE  DARK  AGE 

OF  the  age  that  we  have  been  considering,  that  of 
the  Achaean  supremacy,  we  have  in  Homer's  poems 
a  wonderfully  distinct,  though  perhaps  somewhat 
imaginative,  picture.  These  Homeric  men  and  women  and  the 
world  in  which  they  lived,  although  we  have  no  memorials  of 
them  but  words,  seem  very  near  to  us — nearer  by  far  than 
many  nations  of  whom  we  have  abundant  relics,  such  as  the 
Babylonians,  Assyrians,  and  Egyptians — nearer,  too,  than 
many  a  people  of  an  age  not  far  removed  from  our  own. 
Without  its  vates  sacer  this  Achaean  age  would  doubtless  be 
as  much  of  a  blank  as  the  three  centuries  which  followed  it — 
an  epoch  which  is  indeed  fairly  rich  in  myths,  but  about  which 
we  know  for  certain  much  less  than  we  do  about  the  far  earher 
Minoan  and  Egyptian  civilizations.  One  fact,  however,  is 
indubitable.  It  was  an  epoch  of  great  invasions  or  '  migra- 
tions,' which  rapidly  changed  the  character  of  the  population 
and  the  civilization  in  many  parts  of  Greece  and  extended  the 
Hellenic  name  to  large  tracts  of  country  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Aegaean  Sea. 
First,  let  us  see  what  the  myths  say. 

Mythical  Accounts  of  the  Migrations 

Hellen,  king  of  Phthia,  in  Thessaly,  and  son  of  Deucalion 
(the  Greek  Noah),  was  the  mythical  ancestor  of  all  the  Hellenes. 

74 


THE    DARK    AGE 

Aeolus  and  Dorus  were  his  sons,  Achaeus  and  Ion  his  grandsons 
through  another  son.  From  these  '  eponymous  '  heroes  were 
descended  the  AeoHans,  Dorians,  Achaeans,  and  lonians. 
The  AeoHans  lived  in  Thessaly  and  the  Dorians  in  Doris,  a 
small  district  in  central  North  Greece.  The  lonians  settled  in 
the  country  afterwards  called  Achaea,  and  the  Achaeans 
conquered  the  whole  of  the  Peloponnese  except  this  district 
of  the  lonians  and  the  mountain  strongholds  of  the  Arcadians. 
Now  in  the  Peloponnese  there  had  been  before  the  coming  of 
the  Achaeans  two  great  reigning  dynasties — the  descendants 
of  Perseus  (who  is  said  to  have  founded  Tiryns  and  Mycenae) 
and  the  Pelopid  princes  of  Pisa,  Olympia,  and  Amyclae,  with 
whom,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  northern  Achaean  invaders 
probably  intermarried  and  identified  themselves.  The  last 
of  the  Perseid  dynasty  had  been  Eurystheus  (the  king  of  Argos 
who  enslaved  Heracles).  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Pelopid 
Atreus.  On  the  death  of  Heracles  (traditional  date  1209) 
his  children  were  exiled  from  Argos.  They  endeavoured  to 
return  and  recover  their  possessions,  but  after  Hyllus,  the  son 
of  Heracles,  had  been  killed  in  single  combat  they  promised 
to  renounce  all  further  attempts  for  a  hundred  years.  At 
the  end  of  this  time  (1104)  they  put  themselves  at  the  head 
of  a  great  army  of  Dorians,^  who  espoused  their  cause,  and 
who  were  finding  the  little  district  of  Doris  between  Oeta  and 
Parnassus  too  narrow  for  their  needs.  This  Dorian  host, 
helped  by  the  Aetolians  and  I^ocrians,  built  a  fleet  at  a  port 
thereafter  knoWn  as  Naupactus  ('  Place  of  Shipbuilding '), 
and  overran  most  of  the  Peloponnese,  which  was  divided  among 
the  Heracleidae  and  their  Dorian  alhes.  The  most  powerful 
of  the  Peloponnesian  monarchs  was  the  Pelopid-Achaean 
Tisamenus,  son  of  Orestes  (and,  therefore,  grandson  of  Aga- 
memnon).   He  was  either  slain  or  else  compelled  to  retire  with 

^  Plato  gives  a  very  different  story,  namely,  that  the  Achaeans  who 
returned  from  Troy  were  not  received  by  the  people  at  home,  and,  being 
expelled,  put  themselves  under  the  leadership  of  a  chief  named  Dorieus 
and  changed  their  name  to  Dorians,  They  then  allied  themselves  with  the 
!  Heracleidae  and  recaptured  the  Peloponnese.  This  is  worth  mentioning  if 
only  to  show  the  very  great  variations  in  such  old  myths. 

75 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
his  Achaeans  to  the  northern  district  of  the   Peloponnese, 
which  was,  as  already  stated,  inhabited  by  lonians.    These 
lonians  were  driven  out  by  the  Achaeans,  and  took  refuge  in 
Attica. 

Now  the  king  of  Athens  about  this  time  was  Codrus,  of  the 
race  of  Nestor,  whose  descendants  had  been  driven  out  of 
Pylos  by  the  Dorians.  When  the  Dorians  also  attacked  Attica 
Codrus  devoted  himself  to  death,  and  thus  (in  accordance  with 
an  oracle)  saved  his  country.  His  sons  quarrelled,  and  when 
the  oracle  gave  its  verdict  for  one  of  them  the  other  went  off 
with  a  '  mixed  multitude '  consisting  to  a  great  extent  of  the 
Ionian  refugees,  and,  making  his  way  from  island  to  island 
across  the  Aegaean,  founded  colonies  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  which  ultimately  developed  into  Ionia  with  its  twelve 
great  cities. 

The  story  of  the  '  Aeolic  migration  '  is  thus  narrated  by 
old  writers. 

On  the  'Return  of  the  Heracleidae ' — i.e.  invasion  of  the 
Peloponnese  by  the  Dorians — those  of  the  Achaeans  who  did 
not  remain  with  Tisamenus  in  Achaea  crossed  the  Isthmus 
and  made  their  way  to  Boeotia  and  thence  through  Thessaly  and 
Thrace  to  the  Hellespont ;  or  else  they  reached  the  port  of  Aulis, 
the  very  place  where  Agamemnon  had  been  delayed  by  winds 
and  had  started  with  his  assembled  fleet  for  Troy,  and  thence, 
accompanied  by  many  Kuboeans  and  others,  they  sailed  across 
the  Aegaean  by  the  chain  of  islands  that  stretches  from  Buboea 
to  the  Troad.  They  made  settlements  in  I^esbos  and  the  adj  acent 
mainland,  capturing  or  founding  twelve  cities,  of  which  Cyme, 
named  after  a  town  in  Buboea,  was  the  first — the  mother- 
city  of  Smyrna,  and  mother,  or  perhaps  sister,  to  the  more 
famous  Cyme  in  Italy,  the  Cumae  of  the  Romans. 

Other  forms  of  the  legend,  one  of  which  is  given  by  Pindar, 
make  this  Aeolian  migration  take  place  some  twenty  years 
before  the  'Return  of  the  Heracleidae'  {i.e.  in  1124),  and 
affirm  that  Orestes  himself  led  the  emigrants.  According  to 
the  Augustan  writer  Strabo,  Orestes  started  with  them,  but 
died  in  Arcadia — a  version  which  agrees  with  the  story  of 
y6 


THE    DARK    AGE 

Herodotus  that  the  bones  of  Orestes  were  discovered  some 
five  and  a  half  centuries  later  at  Tegea,  in  Arcadia. 

Now  under  these  various  myths  about  the  Dorian  invasion 
and  the  AeoHc  and  Ionic  migrations  there  is  doubtless  a  basis 
of  historical  facts,  and  probably  these  facts  are  somewhat  as 
follows. 

Aeolic  Migration 

Possibly  even  before  the  siege  of  Troy  there  had  been  a 
considerable  stream  of  migration  across  the  Northern  Aegaean 
by  way  of  the  islands  that  form  a  chain  between  the  Pagasaean 
Gulf  in  Thessaly  and  the  Troad.  Pagasae  is  celebrated  in 
mythology  as  the  port  where  Jason  built  the  Argo,  and  whence 
the  Argonauts  set  forth  on  their  voyage  to  unknown  eastern 
lands,  and  the  legend  evidently  gives  poetic  form  to  some 
such  early  adventures.  From  Thessaly,  which  was  in  early 
days  the  home  of  the  Achaeans  and  the  'Aeolian  Boeotians,' 
it  is  quite  possible  that  bands  of  sea-rovers,  who  either  called 
themselves  or  were  called  by  their  Mysian  and  Phrygian  foes 
AeoHans  (possibly  a  corruption  of  the  word  Achaeans),  made 
their  way  across  to  I^esbos  and  the  Troad,  and  that  it  was 
the  hostility  between  these  Greek  adventurers  and  the  natives 
(also  of  northern  Aryan  race)  which  ultimately  brought  about 
the  Trojan  War  and  the  expedition  of  Agamemnon  and  his 
allies  and  the  fall  of  the  great  Phrygian  stronghold. 

Even  if  we  accept  Homer's  account,  which  gives  no 
hint  of  AeoHan  or  any  other  Greek  settlements  in  Asia  Minor, 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  fall  of  Troy  may  have  at  once  opened 
up  the  south  of  the  Troad  and  I^esbos  and  the  adjacent  mainland 
to  emigrants  from  Greece,  Achaean  and  other,  who  prob- 
ably assembled  at  Pagasae,  or  Aulis,  or  some  such  point  of 
departure  and  crossed  the  Aegaean  by  the  islands.  This 
theory  seems  to  fit  in  fairly  well  with  the  version  of  the  myth 
which  makes  Orestes  head  the  first  band  of  emigrants  not  so 
very  long  after  the  Trojan  War  and  some  time  before  the 
invasion  of  the  Dorian  Northmen.  Doubtless  the  pressure 
I  of  this  invasion  caused  a  large  increase  of  emigration  to  the 

77 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Aeolian  settlements,  as  well  as  to  the  country  to  the  south  of 
Aeolis,  which  had  been  till  then  only  sparsely  occupied,  if 
occupied  at  all,  by  another  section  of  the  Greek  race — the 
lonians,  or  lavones,  as  they  called  themselves. 

Ionic  Migration 

According  to  the  myths,  as  we  have  seen,  the  lonians 
originally  inhabited  the  north  of  the  Peloponnese,  and  when 
pressed  by  the  refugee  Achaeans  withdrew  to  Attica,  and  thence, 
under  leaders  of  the  Pylian  house  of  Codrus,  passed  over  to 
Asia  Minor.  This  would  make  the  Ionic  migration  a  direct 
result  of  the  Dorian  invasion  of  the  Peloponnese  ;  and  doubtless, 
as  already  remarked,  this  invasion  did  cause  a  great  exodus  of 
the  conquered  peoples,  many  of  whom  made  their  way  to 
the  islands  and  to  Crete,  as  well  as  to  the  mainland  on  the 
further  side  of  the  Aegaean. 

As  Ionia  plays  such  an  important  part  in  Greek  history,  it 
is  a  question  of  deep  interest  who  these  lavones,  or  lonians, 
were.  They  are  only  once  mentioned  by  Homer.  He 
gives  them  the  epithet  '  chiton-trailing ' — a  strange  epithet 
for  warriors,  and  never  used  by  any  other  Greek  writer. 
They  take  part  in  defending  the  ships  against  the  attack 
of  Hector,  and  are  apparently  closely  associated,  if  not 
identified,  with  the  Athenians.  All  tradition  agrees  with 
Homer  in  such  association  or  identification.  If  not  actually 
Athenians,  these  lavones,  or  lonians,  were  certainly  non- 
Achaean  settlers  in  Argolis  and  Attica,  and  probably  of  the 
same  Aegaean  or  Pelasgic  race  as  the  Athenians  themselves.  For 
it  seems  fairly  certain  that  the  Athenians,  who  always  boasted 
of  their  old  Pelasgic  origin,  remained  to  a  large  extent  as  a 
race  unaffected  both  by  Achaean  and  by  Dorian  influence. 
They  were,  as  Herodotus  asserts,  Hellenized  Pelasgians  and 
Aegaeans  rather  than  true  Hellenes.  In  speech  and  religion 
they  were  Hellenic,  just  as  much  as  the  Achaeans,  but  in  their 
deeper  instincts  there  were  elements  which  were  derived  from 
the  old  pre-Hellenic  race  and  which  very  possibly  accounted 
for  many  of  their  characteristics  and  proved  the  main  cause 

78 


THE    DARK    AGE 

of  that  rapid  and  wonderful  aesthetic  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment which  took  place  later  among  the  Ionic  section  of  the 
Greek  race. 

In  the  case  of  the  Asiatic  lonians  probably  these  aesthetic 
instincts  were  less  modified  by  vigorous  Northern  influences 
than  was  the  case  with  the  Athenians,  and  doubtless  also 
in  time  the  enervating  climate  (though  highly  praised  by 
Herodotus,  whose  native  clime  it  was),  as  well  as  the  enervating 
influences  of  the  wealthy  I^ydians  and  the  semi-Oriental 
Carians  and  other  peoples  of  Asia  Minor,  contributed  to 
produce  that  Ionian  luxury  and  voluptuousness  which  were 
in  such  sharp  contrast  to  the  a-oj^poa-wv,  the  self-restraint, 
of  all  that  is  greatest  in  Athenian  art  and  character.  For  some 
centuries,  however,  Ionia,  like  the  Greek  colonies  in  Sicily  and 
Italy,  seems  to  have  far  outstripped  the  mother-country 
not  only  in  the  size  and  magnificence  of  its  cities — some  of 
which  were  probably  never  surpassed  by  Athens  itself — but 
also  in  most  civilized  arts.  For  instance,  as  we  have  seen, 
Ionia  probably  knew  and  practised  the  art  of  writing  for  some 
time  before  it  was  much  used  in  Greece. 

The  colonists  were  by  no  means  only  lonians.  Herodotus 
calls  them  a  mixed  multitude  composed  of  many  diverse  tribes 
from  North  and  South  Greece.  Moreover,  he  states  that  they 
brought  no  wives  with  them  and  intermarried  largely  with  the 
Carians.  They  founded,  or  captured  and  refounded,  in  course 
of  time  the  twelve  important  cities  which  later  formed  the 
Ionic  Amphictiony,  Phocaea  being  the  northernmost  and  the 
southernmost  Miletus  (formerly  a  Carian  city,  according  to 
Homer),  which,  together  with  Myus  and  Priene,  lay  on  the 
magnificent  Bay  of  I^atmus,  now  changed  into  a  vast  swampy 
plain  by  the  deposits  of  the  river  Maeander.  These  twelve 
cities  afterwards  had  a  common  place  of  assembly  and  of 
iworship,  sacred  to  Poseidon,  on  the  northern  slope  of  Mount 
Mycale.  Here  they  met  at  the  pan-Ionic  festival,  as  the 
Ipan-Hellenic  world  met  at  Olympia. 

But  this  is  anticipating.  For  the  present  it  sufiices  to  have 
pointed  out  the  probability  of  this  Ionian  migration  having 

79 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
begun  before  the  advent  of  the  Dorians  in  the  Peloponnese, 
and  to  have  shown  the  Hkelihood  that  many  of  these  *  Ionian  ' 
emigrants  were  of  non-Hellenic  (that  is,  of  Aegaean  rather 
than  Achaean)  race.  The  fact  that  in  Ionia — indeed,  on 
all  the  coast  of  Western  Asia  Minor — very  few  traces  of 
'  Mycenaean '  civilization  have  as  yet  been  discovered  need 
not  disturb  us,  for  these  lonians  of,  say,  iioo  were  by  no  means 
the  Aegaeans  of  the  '  Mycenaean '  age,  and  the  fact  that  the 
great  Ionian  cities  were,  with  the  exception  of  Miletus,  con- 
tinuously inhabited  down  to  a  late  age  makes  it  unlikely  that 
relics  of  early  times  have  survived.  Moreover,  what  few 
relics  have  been  discovered — especially  by  Mr.  Hogarth  in 
his  excavation  of  the  earliest  temple  of  Artemis  at  Ephesus — 
seem  at  least  to  have  a  strong  affinity  to  the  relics  of  Aegaean 
and  Cretan  civiHzation.  Among  these  are  many  figurines  of 
Artemis  as  Karth-Mother  and  golden  plaques  and  the  double- 
axe  decoration. 

Doric  Invasion 

Though  the  colonization  of  Aeolis  and  Ionia  evidently  began 
before  the  great  pressure  of  the  Dorian  invasion  (c.  iioo), 
it  was  doubtless  owing  to  that  invasion  that  such  multitudes 
found  their  way  across  the  Aegaean.  We  have  already  heard 
the  mythical  account  of  these  Dorians  and  of  the  *  Return  of 
the  Heracleidae.'  These  myths  probably  arose  from  the  fact 
that  the  descendants  of  these  Dorian  conquerors  tried  to  make 
out  some  hereditary  claim  to  the  countries  which  their  ancestors 
had  invaded ;  but  it  is,  of  course,  possible  that  invasion 
may  have  been  incited  by  exiles,  a  thing  that  has  happened 
many  times  in  history.  More  probably,  however,  the  Dorians 
moved  southward  because  they  were  hard  pressed  by  other 
northern  tribes. 

Northern  Greece  had  been  from  early  ages  the  scene  of  con- 
stant invasions  and  of  constant  migrations.  We  have  already 
heard  of  a  great  nation  of  northern  barbarians,  the  Illyrians, 
who  poured  into  Kpirus  and  swept  the  Achaeans  eastward 
across  the  Pindus  range  into  the  country  north  of  the  Peneios. 
80 


THE    DARK    AGE 

Hither  from  the  north  came  the  Petthaloi,  or  Thessaloi,  and 
drove  the  Achaeans  southward  to  Phthia.  For  some  time 
these  ThessaHans  held  North  Thessaly  and  reduced  the  original 
natives  to  serfdom.  Then  they  attacked  the  Boeotians,  who 
were,  it  is  said,  an  Aeolian  people  at  that  time  inhabiting 
the  fertile  valley  of  the  Peneios  in  Central  Thessaly.  The 
Boeotians,  forced  southward,  occupied  the  country  known 
henceforth  as  Boeotia ;  and  it  is  likely  that  this  invasion 
may  have  caused  the  Dorians  to  cross  over  into  the  Pelo- 
ponnese.  These  Dorians  were  apparently  just  at  that  time 
encamped  in  the  basin  between  Mount  Oeta  and  Mount 
Parnassus  (to  the  north-west  of  Delphi).  The  small  area  of 
this  district  of  '  Doris '  seems  to  preclude  the  possibility 
that  a  great  host  of  warriors,  such  as  the  Dorians  certainly 
were,  could  have  made  it  their  settled  home  for  any  length 
of  time.  Probably  they  had  made  their  way  down  from 
the  far  north,  following  the  great  central  range  of  Pindus, 
and  had  for  the  time  occupied  what  was  afterwards  known 
as  Doris  and  regarded  as  the  original  home  of  the  Dorian 
race.  During  their  sojourn  here  or  on  their  moves  southward 
(which  probably  went  on  for  years)  they  seem  to  have  possessed 
themselves  of  the  Delphic  shrine  and  oracle,  for  we  find  at 
a  later  period  ancient  Dorian  famiHes  at  Delphi  possessing 
prerogatives  as  Apollo's  priests. 

Doubtless  these  Dorians  were  of  the  same  Aryan  stock  as 
the  Achaeans.  They  seem  to  have  worshipped  the  same,  or 
similar,  deities,  and  to  have  accepted  the  Olympian  religion 
as  they  found  it  in  Greece,  possibly  adding  a  few  features, 
such  as  the  cult  of  the  Doric  Apollo — possibly  that  god  of  the 
sun  who  with  his  bright  arrows  slew  the  Python  of  Delphi 
and  banished  the  old  snake- worship.  But  in  many  points 
they  were  evidently  very  different.  Instead  of  assimilating 
the  civihzation  of  the  conquered  peoples  they  seem  to  have 
swept  it  almost  out  of  existence.  But  possibly  the  '  darkness  '  of 
this  age  is  due  mainly  to  our  ignorance.  Although  no  evidence 
is  forthcoming  of  anything  in  the  way  of  art  and  refinement 
in  the  countries  overrun  by  these  early  Dorians  during  several 

F  8i 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
centuries,  it  is  just  possible  that  their  advent  did  not  cause  such 
devastation  as  has  been  supposed.  vStill,  judging  from  the 
Spartans,  who  were  the  only  pure  Dorians  of  later  times,  one 
may  reasonably  believe  that  their  early  ancestors,  fresh  from 
the  north,  were  barbarians  such  as  the  Gauls  or  Huns,  and  it 
seems  a  very  natural  conclusion  that  the  Aegaean-Achaean 
civihzation  was  for  a  long  time  almost  annihilated  in 
Greece,  except  in  Attica,  which  preserved  its  independence 
and  helped  also  to  foster  civilization  in  the  colonies  of  Asia 
Minor. 

The  Dorians  seem  to  have  been  armed  with  iron,  the 
commoner  use  of  which  metal  may  have  given  them  a  great 
superiority  in  war.  They  bore  round  metal  shields,  and  wore 
a  square  woollen  cloak,  fastened  over  the  shoulders  with 
brooches  (safety-pins).  \ 

We  have  seen  that  they  built  a  number  of  ships  at  Naupactus. 
In  these  ships  many  of  them  evidently  crossed  over  to  the 
Peloponnese,  landing  at  various  points.  They  conquered  all 
the  south-western  parts,  driving  out  the  Achaean  or  Aegaean 
lords  of  Amyclae^  near  which  they  founded  Sparta — destined, 
though  without  wall  or  citadel,  to  become  the  mistress  not  only 
of  lyaconia,  but  for  a  time  of  nearly  the  whole  of  Hellas^ 
But  it  seems  probable  that  a  considerable  force  of  these 
Dorians  set  forth  at  once  in  their  new-built  ships  for  more 
distant  conquests.  They  captured  and  occupied  the  islands 
of  Thera  and  Melos,  and  made  a  descent  on  Crete,  where  they 
swept  away  the  last  remnants  of  Minoan  civilization  and 
introduced  Dorian  customs  and  laws.^  The  similarity  of 
the  name  of  one  of  the  three  Dorian  clans  (Pamphyli)  to 
that  of  the  people  of  Pamphylia  has  induced  some  writers 
to  assert  that  these  adventurers  even  reached  and  gave  their 
name  and  language  to  that  land. 

1  The  similarity  of  Spartan  and  Cretan  laws  and  constitution  is  noticed 
by  old  writers.  Homer  speaks  of  Dorians  as  one  of  many  diverse  races  in 
Crete — the  only  time  he  mentions  the  name — and  possibly  calls  them  '  three- 
tribed.'  If  these  are  the  Dorians  of  i  loo  or  so  the  mention  is  an  anachronism, 
but  it  only  proves  that  Homer  did  not  write  before  that  date.  '  Pamphyli  ' 
really  means  '  of  mixed  races.' 

82 


THE    DARK    AGE 

In  the  Peloponnese  the  Dorians  eventually  extended  their 
conquests  to  Argolis,  and  it  was  doubtless  their  devastating 
fire  which,  about  950,  left  its  marks  on  the  ruins  of  Mycenae 
and  Tiryns.  Argos  now  was  made  the  chief  city  of  the  Argive 
plain,  and  the  Dorian  occupation  lasted  apparently  for  some 
centuries ;  but  afterwards,  although  traces  of  Dorian  govern- 
ment remained,  Argos  became  a  great  adversary  of  Sparta. 
The  lofty  citadel  of  Corinth,  the  Acrocorinthus,  was  also 
seized  by  a  Dorian  adventurer,  Aletes  ('Wanderer'),  and 
the  city,  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  Dorian  Argive  kings, 
became,  doubtless  by  virtue  of  its  two  seas,  a  place  of  maritime 
importance.  Even  Megara  was  seized  and  became  a  thoroughly 
Dorian  town ;  and  later  (perhaps  about  800)  the  island  of 
Aegina  was  also  occupied,  and  for  nearly  four  centuries  proved 
a  Dorian  thorn  in  the  side  of  Athens,  until  the  Athenians 
were  forced  (as  we  were  in  the  case  of  the  Acadians  of  Nova 
Scotia)  to  clear  the  country  of  its  older  population  and  settle 
it  anew  with  loyal  colonists. 

It  was  probably  after  thus  extending  and  consolidating  their 
conquests  in  the  Peloponnese  that  the  Dorian  chiefs  led  bands 
of  emigrants  across  the  Aegaean,  evidently  by  way  of  the 
Doric  islands  of  Thera  and  Melos,  to  Crete  and  thence  to 
Rhodes,  where  they  founded,  or  annexed,  the  three  cities  of 
Ivindus,  lalysus,  and  Cameirus.^  Then  the  island  Cos  was 
occupied  by  them,  and  two  cities,  Cnidus  and  Halicarnassus, 
were  founded  on  the  mainland.  These  six  settlements  formed 
the  Hexapolis  of  the  new  oversea  Doris — ^nominally  a  Dorian 
colony,  but  to  a  large  extent  really  Carian ;  for,  especially 
in  Halicarnassus,  which  was  by  far  the  most  important  of 
these  cities,  the  native  Carian  element  was  preponderant, 
and  '  Carian  dynasts  '  (among  whom  we  shall  later  find  Queen 

1  Mentioned  in  the  '  Catalogue  of  the  Ships  '  {Iliad,  ii.).  The  Rhodians 
also  in  this  passage  are  described  as  divided  into  three  (Dorian)  clans.  But 
the  '  Catalogue  '  is  admittedly  full  of  late  intercalations.  Thera,  Melos,  and 
Rhodes  were  colonized  by  Aegaeans  long  before  the  coming  of  the  Dorians. 
A  '  Mycenaean  '  cemetery  at  lalysus  has  given  many  evidences  of  this. 
In  Thera  a  volcanic  disturbance  buried  a  Mycenaean  town,  which  has  been 
partially  excavated,  and  in  Melos  a  citadel  has  been  discovered  dating  from 
about  2000. 

83 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
Artemisia  I  and  Mausolus)  seem  to  have  established  their 
rule  from  an  early  period.  ^W^'^       !^-" 

Thus  during  this  so-called  Dark  Age  very  great  and  im- 
portant movements  and  changes  evidently  took  place.  The 
Aegaean,  from  which  (if  Thucydides  is  right)  in  an  earlier 
age  the  Minoan  fleets  had  swept  the  pirates  and  expelled  the 
Carians,  became  during  this  period  a  Grecian  sea,  fringed  on 
all  sides,  except  the  extreme  north,  with  Grecian  colonies — 
which  extended,  as  we  shall  see  later,  even  to  Cyprus.  Nor 
were  the  changes  in  social  and  political  matters  less  important, 
for  even  in  the  twilight  of  the  archaic  period,  before  we  emerge 
into  the  full  light  of  history,  we  can  discern  the  fact  that 
the  old  monarchical  system  has  already  begun  to  give  way, 
that  to  a  considerable  extent  constituted  law  has  taken  the 
place  of  absolute  government  and  those  unwritten  traditional 
ordinances  (Oeniiarre?)  of  which  we  hear  in  Homer,  and  that 
the  city,  with  its  larger  and  more  systematized  community 
and  its  function  as  political  centre  of  a  district,  has  succeeded 
to  migratory  life  and  loosely  grouped  village  communities  clus- 
tered (as  in  Mycenae)  around  the  stronghold  of  some  chieftain. 
Moreover,  the  sites  of  towns  were  affected  by  the  new  state  of 
things,  as  Thucydides  tells  us  in  his  celebrated  opening  chapters. 
"When  there  were  now  greater  facilities  for  navigation,"  he 
says,  '*  cities  were  built  with  walls  on  the  sea-shore,  and  they 
began  to  occupy  isthmuses,  with  a  view  to  commerce  and 
security,  whereas  the  older  cities,  owing  to  the  long  continuance 
of  piracy,  were  built  farther  off  the  sea . "  Of  the  cities  especi  ally 
affected  by  the  disappearance  of  piracy  and  the  more  settled 
state  of  things  was  Corinth,  which  took  advantage  of  its 
position  on  the  Isthmus,  and  in  early  days  became  a  great 
emporium  and  the  first  naval  power  in  Greece,  so  that  we 
may  well  credit  the  assertion  of  Thucydides  that  the  first 
triremes    were  built  there  ^ — war-galleys   of   170   oars  with 

^  This  was  not  until  c.  700,  when  they  were  perhaps  introduced  by  the 
Phoenicians.  The  trireme  does  not  seem  to  have  superseded  the  old  fifty- 
oared  biremes  in  other  parts  of  Greece  till  shortly  before  the  Persian  wars 
(c.  500).  In  later  times  warships  had  often  five  banks.  Alexander  and  the 
Ptolemies  built  vessels  which,  it  is  asserted,  had  forty  banks  1 

84 


THE    DARK    AGE 

three  banks  of  oarsmen — and  that  the  first  Greek  naval  battle 
was  between  the  Corinthians  and  their  own  colonists,  the 
Corcyraeans. 

Of  other  cities  in  Greece  during  this  Dark  Age  we  have  a  few 
dim  myths  and  a  few  relics,  such  as  the  contents  of  the  so-called 
Dipylon  cemetery  at  Athens  (see  Section  A)  and  various  objects 
found  at  Argos  and  Sparta.  But  when  the  veil  rises  and  Greek 
history  begins  we  find  some  of  these  cities,  or  rather  states 
(for  they  had  already  begun  to  develop  into  organized  com- 
munities), furnished  with  constitutions  and  in  possession  of 
much  else  that  necessarily  presumes  a  considerable  period  of 
stable  government  and  prosperity.  It  will  therefore  be  well 
to  consider  here  some  of  the  more  important  facts  connected 
with  two  cities  which  will  later  occupy  much  of  our  attention, 
namely,  Athens  and  Sparta,  and  see  how  far  these  facts,  as 
they  meet  our  view  at  the  dawn  of  history  (say  about  700), 
may  be  traced  to  their  sources  in  this  Dark  Age  (say  between 
1000  and  700),  although  in  doing  this  we  shall  be  forestalHng 
to  some  ej^itent.  It  is,  of  course,  quite  incredible  that  these 
three  or  four  centuries  between  the  Dorian  invasion  and  the 
beginning  of  certified  history  should  in  Greece  itself  have  been 
a  total  blank,  but  almost  the  only  proof  that  it  was  not  so 
resides  in  facts  that  really  belong  to  the  next  age — facts  which 
it  may  not  be  too  audacious  to  try  to  trace  to  their  origin  with 
the  help  of  more  or  less  mythical  accounts  given  by  ancient 
writers. 

Athens 
Of  Athens  and  its  ancient  mythical  history  we  have  already 

heard  something,  namely,  how  it  was  perhaps  captured,  but 

not  permanently  held,  by  the  Achaeans,  how  it  repelled  the 
I  Dorians  and  retained  its  independence,  and  how  the  last  of  its 

kings,  Codrus,  for  his  country's  sake  devoted  himself  to  death 
I  (c.  1044). 

I  Now  so  great,  it  is  said,  was  the  admiration  of  the  Athenians 
I  for  this  heroic  act  of  Codrus  that  they  determined  to  allow 
':  no  one  else  the  royal  prerogatives,  and  elected  Medon,  the  son 

8s 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

of  the  king/  as  their  chief  magistrate  for  life,  giving  him  the 
title  archon  {'  ruler ').  Such  is  the  possibly  mythical  version 
of  the  fact  that  early  in  the  Dark  Age  the  absolute  monarch  in 
Athens  was  superseded  by  a  constitutional  and  accountable 
magistracy — perhaps  elected  by  the  nobles  out  of  their  own 
body.  This  magistracy  consisted  probably  from  the  first 
of  three  archons,  such  as  existed  (though  combined  later  with 
'  lawgivers  ')  down  to  the  time  of  the  Roman  Emperors.  They 
were  the  chief  civil  magistrate  (called  later  eponymos,  because 
he  gave  his  name  to  the  year),  the  chief  military  commander 
(polemarch) ,  and  the  King  Archon  (basileus) .  The  King  Archon 
may  at  first  have  belonged  to  the  royal  house,  but  he  held  the 
merest  shadow  of  kingly  power,  being  allowed  to  retain  little 
but  the  pontifical  functions  of  royalty  (as  the  Rex  Sacrificulus 
at  Rome  after  the  expulsion  of  the  kings  and  the  election  of 
praetors  and  consuls).  This  seems  to  have  been  in  many 
of  the  states  of  Hellas  the  first  stage  in  the  evolution  of  the 
later  republics.  On  account  of  the  great  increase  of  ordinary 
citizens,  traders,  agriculturists,  and  so  on,  the  military  element 
gradually  lost  its  exclusive  political  influence,  and  the  king, 
as  head  of  the  army,  lost  his  political  supremacy.  Some 
powerful  clique  or  family  of  nobles  then  assumed  this  supremacy, 
electing  perhaps  one  of  their  number  as  polemarch,  or  war- 
leader,  and  others  as  permanent,  or  annual,  civil  magistrates. 
This  state  of  things — that  of  a  close  aristocracy  or  oligarchy 
— we  find  in  early  days  at  Corinth,  where  the  Bacchiad  family 
for  a  considerable  time  held  the  reins  of  government.  And  as 
it  happened  at  Corinth,  so  it  also  happened  in  many  other  cases 
that  some  specially  strong-minded  and  ambitious  noble  over- 
threw the  aristocracy  (sometimes  by  coming  forward  as  a 
demagogue  and  obtaining  the  support  of  the  people)  and 
constituted  himself  '  tyrant '  or  despot.  He  differed  from  a 
hereditary  monarch  by  basing  his  claims  on  force  rather  than 

1  His  younger  brother,  Neleus,  led  the  emigrants  to  Ionia  (see  p.  78).  The 
archonship  was  at  first  a  life-office  and  perhaps  limited  to  the  Medontid 
family.  About  750  its  term  was  reduced  to  ten  years,  in  683  it  was  made 
an  annual  office,  and  finally  the  pine  chief  magistrate^  were  all  called 
archons, 

86 


THE    DARK    AGE 

on  divine  right,  and  generally  surrounded  himself  with  a  strong 
bodyguard,  but  not  unfrequently  he  proved  a  beneficent 
ruler,  and  one  that  forwarded  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
people  far  more  than  was  often  done  by  republican  govern- 
ments. The  last  stage  of  evolution  was,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
the  establishment  of  a  constitutional  democracy  on  the  expul- 
sion of  the  tyrannos. 

It  was  either  during  the  reigns  of  the  early  Athenian  kings 
(tradition  attributes  it  to  the  reign  of  Theseus)  or  shortly 
after  the  institution  of  the  archonship  that  Athens  became 
the  capital  of  the  whole  of  Attica — an  event  which  was  of  the 
very  greatest  moment,  giving  her  in  time  a  position  as  political 
centre  of  an  united  state  which  was  possessed  by  no  other  city 
in  Greece.  In  spite  of  the  poverty  of  its  soil  Attica  had  received 
many  foreign  immigrants,  such  as  the  Achaean  and  the  Ionian 
refugees.  We  hear  of  twelve  Attic  *  kingships '  in  the  age  of 
Cecrops.  These  petty  chieftains  in  course  of  time,  either  by  com- 
pulsion or  wilUngly,  became  subject  to  the  growing  Athenian 
power,  which  extended  its  dominion  first  over  the  plain  of 
the  Cephisus  and  then  over  the  country  east  of  Mount 
Hymettus  and  north  of  PenteHcus  from  Cape  Sunion  to 
Marathon.  To  the  west,  over  Kleusis  and  its  plain,  the  new 
Athenian  state  did  not  for  the  present  extend  its  sovereignty, 
but  the  whole  of  the  Ade  (or  '  coastland  ') — ^from  which  word 
is  probably  derived  the  name  '  Attica ' — formed  now  a  single 
community.^  This  community  was  divided  into  four  tribes, 
which  received  old  Ionian  names,^  the  meanings  of  which  are 
obscure.  Tradition  attributes  the  formation  and  naming  of 
these  four  '  Ionian '  tribes  of  Attica  to  the  mythical  King 
Ion,  ancestor  of  all  lonians.  Some  modern  writers  assert 
that  the  names  were  derived  from  Miletus,  where  similar  tribes 
existed.  But  it  seems  more  reasonable  to  suppose  that  they 
were  names  in  use  among  Ionian  settlers  in  Attica,  who 
probably  were  divided  into  four  tribes  as  the  Dorians  were 

1  This  a-vvoiKLa,  or  Union  of  Attica,  was  commemorated  even  in  the  days 
of  Plutarch  by  a  festival  in  which  offerings  were  made  to  the  goddess  Eirene 
(Peace). 

*  Geleontes,  Argades,  Aegicores,  and  Hopletes. 

87 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
into  three.  Each  tribe  had  its  tribe-king,  and  contained 
three  phratrias  (brotherhoods)  and  numerous  clans  and 
famiHes.^  The  famiHes  of  each  clan  recognized,  and  perhaps 
worshipped,  a  common  ancestor,  or  a  special  deity,  and  were 
bound  together  by  various  social  ties.  They  had  a  special 
burial-place,  and  perhaps  community  in  land  property. 

But  besides  this  it  seems  probable  that  from  the  first  these 
four  '  Ionian '  tribes  were  divided  into  the  trittyes  (thirds) 
and  naucraries  (shipownings)  of  which  we  hear  so  much  in 
later  days.  These  divisions  were  perhaps  local  (Hke  the 
original  demes,  or  townships,  into  which  Theseus  is  said  to 
have  portioned  out  Attica),  but  they  were  evidently  made  for 
purposes  of  military  and  naval  finance,  the  naucraries  each 
probably  supplying,  as  later  in  Solon's  constitution,  the  equip- 
ment of  one  ship.  2 

During  this  period  of  about  three  centuries  {i.e.  from  the 
abolition  of  monarchy  until  the  first  Olympiad),  during  which 
Athens  gradually  became  the  political  centre  of  Attica,  the 
Athenian  state  was  doubtless,  as  we  find  it  still  in  the  seventh 
century,  an  aristocracy  with  democratic  tendencies.  This 
seems  plain  not  only  from  the  poHtical  constitution  which  we 
have  been  considering,  but  also  from  what  little  we  know  of 
the  social  order.  The  whole  people  was  divided  into  three 
classes,  the  Bupatridae  ('  Well-born '),  the  Georgi  ('  lyand- 
workers  '),  and  the  Demiurgi  ('  Public  Workers  ').  The  nobles 
were  large  landowners.  Many  of  them  had  removed  into  the 
city  from  their  country  estates,  which  they  worked  by  means 
of  labourers,  who  retained  a  sixth  of  the  produce.  The  Demi- 
urgi were  craftsmen  of  all  kinds,  such  as  those  who  made 
and  painted  those  '  Dipylon '  vases  which  are  the  sole  relics 
of  this  age.  Some  of  the  workers  probably  had  a  limited 
franchise,  but   there   seems   to   have   been  a  large   number 

*  In  later  writers  the  calculation  was  i  tribe  =  30  phratrias  =  90  clans  = 
2700  families,  thus  giving  10,800  families  in  all. 

*  Until  lately  this  has  been  doubted,  and  the  word  naucraria  has  been 
derived  from  other  sources,  because  it  was  assumed  that  Athens  had  no 
fleet  before  the  time  of  Solon.  We  shall  see  that  this  assumption  was  wrong. 
See  Section  A. 

88 


THE    DARK    AGE 

even    of    the  free  population  who   had  not  the  rights   of 
citizenship. 

This  is  about  all  we  know,  or  can  venture  to  guess,  about 
Athens  in  the  Dark  Age,  except  what  we  may  infer  from  what 
is  called  '  Dipylon  civilization,'  which  I  shall  consider  later. 

Sparta 

lyct  us  now  turn  to  Sparta,  which  offers  a  very  interesting 
contrast. 

After  the  Dorians  had  established  themselves  in  the  western 
and  southern  part  of  the  Peloponnese  some  of  them  seem  to 
have  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  bands  of  those  fighting 
men  and  adventurers  who  had  doubtless  accompanied  them  in 
great  numbers  from  the  north  and  to  have  set  forth  in  quest 
of  new  conquests  in  lands  over  the  sea.  Other  Dorian  chiefs 
in  course  of  time,  as  we  have  seen,  also  doubtless  at  the  head 
of  armies  largely  composed  of  non-Dorians,  made  themselves 
masters  of  Mycenae,  Argos,  Corinth,  and  even  Aegina.  But 
the  main  body  of  the  true-born  Dorians — a  body  of  probably 
only  some  six  or  eight  thousand  warriors — seem  to  have  chosen 
Sparta,  or  I^acedaemon,  the  ancient  residence  of  the  Achaean 
princes  (in  Homer  it  is  the  residence  of  Menelaus),  as  their 
permanent  abode.  It  was  evidently  at  this  time  a  place 
consisting  of  several  (afterwards  five)  villages,  which  even  in 
a  later  age  were  not  closely  united  in  one  community,  and 
remained  unwalled  and  without  a  fortified  acropolis  almost 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Romans ;  for  the  Dorians  despised 
fortifications  ^  and  relied  solely  on  their  superiority  in  open 
battle.  They  were  a  comparatively  small  number  in  the 
midst  of  a  hostile  population,  and  it  was  evidently  with  no 
small  difficulty  that  they  held  their  own,  for  even  at  the 
beginning  of  the  so-called  historical  age  of  Greece  (c.  776) 
they  were  in  possession  of  little  more  than  the  valley  of  the 
Eurotas,  on  which  their  city  lay,  and  tradition  asserts  that  it 

^  Their  want  of  practice  in  siege  operations  caused  them  often  great  trouble 
in  wars  against  the  Messenians,  and  during  the  Persian  and  Peloponnesian 
wars  they  had  frequently  to  rely  on  the  assistance  of  their  allies  in  such 
matters. 

89 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
was  not  for  over  200  years — i.e.  not  until  the  reign  of  the 
Spartan  king  Teleclus  (c.  850) — that  they  succeeded  in 
dislodging  a  remnant  of  the  Achaeans  from  the  ancient  town 
of  Amyclae,  about  half  a  dozen  miles  distant  from  Sparta. 
The  aborigines,  Aegaeans,  Achaeans,  Cynurians,  or  whatever 
else  they  may  have  been,  were  either  reduced  to  serfdom 
and  called  Helots  (probably  'Captives'),  or  were  allowed 
to  form  free  municipalities  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Sparta  ^ 
without  being  granted  civic  rights.  These  latter,  treated, 
perhaps,  more  leniently  because  they  had  offered  less  resistance, 
were  called  Perioeci  ('  Dwellers  round  about '),  and  formed  the 
mercantile  class,  the  Spartiatae,  or  true  Dorian  Spartans,  not 
deigning  to  engage  in  such  occupations  or  to  acquire  wealth. 

The  Helots  were  not  slaves.  They  were  in  some  ways  no 
worse  off  than  the  mediaeval  villein  or  Russian  serf,  and  could 
even  acquire  property,  which  was  more  than  the  Roman  slave 
was  allowed,  for  even  his  peculium  belonged  by  law  to  his 
master.  But  the  original  Helots  had  been  masters  of  the 
country,  and  their  descendants,  conscious  of  this,  and  being 
doubtless  often  equal  to  the  Spartiates  in  civilized  instincts, 
bitterly  resented  their  lot,  and  the  constant  danger  of  insur- 
rection was  one  of  the  main  reasons  why  Sparta  lived  under 
martial  law.  A  very  striking  specimen  of  the  measures  adopted 
by  the  Spartans  to  meet  this  danger  was  the  Crypteia,  or 
secret  society  of  young  Spartiates,  who  were  empowered  by  law 
to  kill  at  once  any  Helot  whom  they  might  suspect  as  dangerous. 
To  cover  such  glaring  injustice  by  a  show  of  law  it  was  the 
custom  for  certain  magistrates  (the  ephors)  every  year,  when 
assuming  office,  to  declare  war  formally  against  the  Helots  ! 

The  whole  of  the  political  power  lay  in  the  hands  of  the 
Spartiatae,  who  formed  a  military  caste  of  no  great  size.^ 
As  might  be  expected,  kingship  was  the  inherent  and  permanent 

^  Later  in  the  whole  of  Laconia,  where  there  were  a  hundred  such  townships  ; 
but  they  formed  no  organic  state  like  the  Attic  towns— indeed,  they  were  a 
constant  source  of  danger  to  Sparta. 

*  After  Thermopylae  (according  to  Herodotus)  Xerxes  was  told  by  Dema- 
ratus  that  Sparta  contained  about  8000  full-grown  men.  After  I^euctra  (371) 
the  Spartans  with  full  citizenship  numbered  ovlj  abpiit  1500. 

90 


THE    DARK    AGE 

form  of  rule.  The  Spartan  kings,  who  claimed  an  unbroken 
lineage  from  Hercules  (extending  back  a  century  beyond  the 
advent  of  the  Dorians),  retained  the  regal  office  and  title,  if 
with  diminished  rights,  for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  while 
almost  every  other  city  of  Hellas  passed  through  various 
phases  of  government.  Possibly  the  fact  that  two  kings  held 
power  at  the  same  time,  though  it  sounds  a  dangerous  state 
of  things,  may  have  limited  the  abuse  of  regal  power  and 
helped  to  preserve  kingship  from  its  usual  fate.  This  dual 
kingship  is  said  by  old  writers  to  have  arisen  from  the  diffi- 
culty caused  by  the  fact  that  the  king  of  the  Dorian  invaders, 
Aristodemus,  left  twins  as  heirs  tohisthrone.  Modern  writers  try 
to  explain  it  by  a  possible  coalition  of  two  tribes,  each  of  which 
insisted  on  retaining  its  king  ;  but  the  old  explanation  seems 
quite  as  probable.  However  that  may  be,  the  state  of  things 
was  evidently  not  such  as  would  seem  likely  to  result  in  a  very 
satisfactory  dispensation  of  justice,  far  less  in  any  form  of 
settled  government  and  constituted  law.  So  it  is  not  surprising 
that  Herodotus  (i.  65)  is  of  the  opinion  that  in  early  times 
the  I^acedaemonians  were  "the  very  worst  governed  people  in 
Greece."  But  Sparta  at  some  period  during  the  Dark  Age 
received  a  very  complete  and  rigid,  if  not  a  very  highly  organized, 
constitution.  It  was  not  such  a  constitution  as  is  gradually 
evolved  to  meet  the  higher  needs  of  a  people.  It  has  all  the 
marks  of  construction,  and  the  main  structure  was  doubtless 
conceived  and  framed  by  some  one  lawgiver.  This  lawgiver, 
according  to  old  tradition,  was  I^ycurgus.  He  was  regent 
for  his  young  nephew,  King  lyabotas,  or  Charilaus,  and  either 
during  this  regency  or  after  a  period  of  voluntary  exile  and  of 
travel  in  distant  lands,  being  encouraged  by  the  Delphic  oracle 
and  having  gained  the  support  of  the  chief  men  of  the  city,  he 
procured  the  introduction  of  his  new  constitution.  Then,  after 
having  extracted  a  promise  from  the  people  to  keep  his  laws 
until  his  return,  he  quitted  Sparta  for  ever.  Modern  criticism 
tells  us  that  "  lyycurgus  was  not  a  man  ;  he  was  only  a  god  "  ;^ 

1  The  phrase  seems  to  be  borrowed  from  Herodotus  :  "  Whether  Zahnoxis 
was  really  a  man,  or  nothing  but  a  native  god  of  the  Getae,  I  now  bid  him 

91 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

that  his  name  means  '  protector  against  wolves/  and  that 
he  may  have  been  identical  with  the  ancient  Arcadian  wolf- 
repelling  deity  who  was  called  by  the  Greeks  Zeus  Lykaios. 
All  this  is  possible  ;  but  it  seems  to  some  minds  more  natural 
that  one  should  begin  by  being  a  hero,  or  a  great  lawgiver, 
and  end  in  being  a  god.  Anyhow,  to  save  time  and  space 
for  more  important  matters,  let  us  accept  I^ycurgus,  whether 
a  man  or  only  a  god,  as  the  great  lawgiver  who,  when  the 
"  very  worst  governed  people  in  Greece "  found  things 
becoming  intolerable,  was  begged,  or  allowed,  to  draw  up  a 
constitution  of  a  very  rigid  and  drastic  nature — such  a  con- 
stitution as  should  be  fitting  for  a  military  camp  where  martial 
law  was  to  prevail  and  where  the  one  end  of  all  law  and 
all  social  order  was  to  turn  out  the  best  soldiers  and  the  best 
soldiers'  wives. 

The  following  are,  shortly  stated,  some  of  the  chief  features 
of  this  constitution  as  it  existed  about  700  to  600.  It  is 
impossible  to  say  for  certain  which  portions  of  the  structure 
are  the  most  ancient,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
greater  part  had  existed,  as  Thucydides  asserts,  at  least  from 
about  800,  and  that  many  of  these  '  Dorian  ordinances,'  as 
Pindar  calls  them,  were  derived  from  very  early  times,  if 
not,  as  he  believed,  from  the  days  of  the  mythical  Dorian  hero 
Aegimius. 

The  functions  of  the  two  kings  were  military  and  religious. 
They  had  supreme  command  and  dictatorial  power  in  war, 
and  were  high-priests  of  the  Spartan  Zeus  and  Apollo.  The 
kingship  was  hereditary,  but  the  son  succeeded  who  was 
eldest  born  after  his  father's  accession.  In  later  times  (for 
instance,  during  the  Persian  wars)  only  one  king  held  military 
command.  The  kings  had  a  council,  like  the  Homeric 
Boule,  called  the  Gerusia  (Council  of  Elders).  It  consisted 
only  of  nobles,  but  they  were  elected  by  the  people.     There 

farewell  "  (iv.  96).  Herodotus  (i.  65)  tells  us  that  lyycurgus  "  introduced  from 
Crete  the  system  of  laws  still  observed  by  the  Spartans."  This  is  also  asserted 
by  Aristotle.  The  resemblances  in  the  Cretan  and  Spartan  constitutions 
seem  to  be  limited  to  a  few  features  such  as  the  syssitia,  and  are  probably  due 
to  Doric  influences  in  Crete, 

92 


THE    DARK    AGE 

was  also  a  public  assembly,  like  the  Homeric  Agora,  called 
the  Apella.  To  this  every  citizen  of  thirty  years  belonged. 
In  early  days  it  was  summoned  by  the  kings,  later  by 
the  ephors.  The  vote  of  the  public  assembly  was  given  by 
acclamation. 

Although  Sparta  never  reached  democracy  pure  and  simple, 
things  had  with  them,  as  everywhere  else,  a  tendency  towards 
democracy,  of  which  the  creation  of  the  ephors  (possibly  not 
till  about  760)  was  a  proof.  The  ephors  ('  overseers '  or 
*  guardians ')  were  representatives  of  the  people,  like  the 
tribunes  in  Roman  history,  elected  after  long  contests  between 
the  military  caste  and  the  working  classes,  which  seem  to  have 
included  many  who  had  been  degraded  from  the  ranks  of  the 
Spartiatae  as  well  as  the  lyaconian  Perioeci.  Every  month 
the  ephors  and  the  kings  exchanged  vows  to  abide  by  the  laws 
and  to  support  one  another's  authority.  There  were  five 
ephors — one  evidently  for  each  of  the  five  villages,  or  demes, 
of  which,  as  we  have  seen,  Sparta  was  composed.  They  had 
much  of  the  judicial  power  in  their  hands,  and  could  even 
indict  the  kings.  Two  of  them  accompanied  the  army  in 
war. 

Thus  at  Sparta  we  find  a  striking  example  of  that  mixed 
constitution  which,  when  a  carefully  balanced  construction, 
has  proved  elsewhere  (as,  for  instance,  in  England)  more 
durable  than  any  other  form  of  government,  possessing 
something  of  the  stability  of  the  triangle  of  forces  and  of  an 
universe  of  three  dimensions, 
■fe  More  characteristic  even  than  this  political  machinery 
'^'was  the  social  constitution  of  Sparta,  which  was  regarded 
with  intense  admiration  (at  a  distance)  by  many  other  Greek 
citizens,  and  which  Plato,  struck  perhaps  by  its  artistic 
symmetry,  like  that  of  some  great  Doric  temple,  took  as  the 
type  after  which  he  constructed  the  framework  of  his  Ideal 
State — although  his  ideal  ruler  and  ideal  citizen  had  nothing 
in  common  with  those  of  the  Spartan  lawgiver.^ 

^  For  a  very  full  discussion  of  lyycurgus  and  his  '  Laws  and  Discipline  '  see 
Grote,  Part  II,  chap,  vi 

93 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
Many  of  the  details  of  this  '  Spartan  discipline  '  and  many 
stories  connected  therewith  are  well  known.     I  shall  therefore 
merely  touch  on  a  few  points. 
,       One  of  the  main  points  was  that  the  Spartiat  warrior-citizen 
should  be  wholly  free  from  the  degrading  necessity  of  working 
to  provide  for  himself  and  his  family.     He  possessed  landed 
patrimony  which  could  not  be  sold  or  broken  up,  and  this  land 
I  was  tilled  by  serfs,  who  had  to  supply  the  lord  of  the  manor 
\  with  corn,  wine,  and  fruit.     The  serfs  (Helots)  of  the  Spartan 
noble  were  not  his  property.     They  belonged  to  the  state, 
which  alone  could  emancipate  them  ;  and  this  was  sometimes 
done  as  a  reward  for  valour  in  war.     Hence  arose  a  class  like 
the  Roman  lihertini  (freedmen). 

Every  new-born  child  was  inspected  by  the  tribal  authorities, 

and  if  deemed  too  feeble  or  unhealthy  it  was  taken  to  Mount 

Taygetus  and  left  there  to  die.     At  seven  years  the  boy  was 

I  taken  from  home  and  was  kept  in  a  great  military  school 

!  until  the  age  of  twenty,  when  he  entered  the  army  and  was 

,  allowed  to  marry,  but  was  still  obliged  to  live  apart  from  his 

i  wife  in  barracks.     At  thirty  he  was  considered  a  man  and 

received  the  rights  of  a  citizen. 

Every  Spartan  male  citizen  was  obliged  to  take  his  meals 
at  a  public  '  mess '  (syssition)  under  the  management  of  the 
jWar  Minister — such  messes  as  More  imagined  in  his  Utopia, 
except  that  in  Utopia  messing  in  the  public  halls  was  not 
compulsory,  and  women  were  also  admitted. 

The  education  of  the  Spartan  had  an  aim  very  different 
from  that  of  the  Athenian — anyhow  the  Athenian  of  the 
;  higher  type  in  classical  times,  whose  ideal  was  a  truly  cultured, 
'  perfectly  balanced,  harmonious  character,  not  the  production 
of  a  highly  trained  fighter  nor  professional  or  mercantile  suc- 
cess. Money-making  and  luxury  were  indeed,  theoretically, 
despised  by  the  Spartiat,  though  he  seems  to  have  been  more 
open  to  a  bribe  than  other  Hellenes.^    But  his  contempt 

^  To  substantiate  this  I  would  refer  the  reader  to  Hdt.  iii.  148,  v.  51,  vi.  72  ; 
Thuc.  i.  129  and  131,  ii.  21,  viii.  50.  What  use  the  gold  would  be  to  them  in 
Sparta,  where  QSly^Jtpn  money  was  allowed  until  the  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  it  is  difficult  to  see. 

94 


THE    DARK    AGE 

for  such  things  did  not  spring  from  any  hunger  for  angels* 
food,  as  Dante  calls  it.  The  Spartan  youth — as  also  the 
Spartan  girl — doubtless  received  a  splendid  physical  train- 
ing, and  did  full  credit  to  the  scientific  breeding  of  muscular 
and  athletic  citizens,  but  they  were,  even  in  the  age  of  Demos- 
thenes,^ for  the  most  part  not  taught  to  read,  and,  according 
to  Plato,  many  of  the  Spartans  "  could  not  do  the  simplest 
sum  in  arithmetic,  nor  did  they  care  a  jot  for  science,  or  logicL 
or  any  such  things/'  Thus  the  governing  classes  in  Sparta 
were  probably  more  illiterate  than  the  mercantile  Perioeci, 
or  even  the  Helots,  and  had  to  depend  (as  was  also  often  the 
case  among  the  Romans)  on  slaves  or  hired  amanuenses. 

The  love  of  the  Spartans  for  brevity  in  speech — which 
accounts  for  the  meaning  of  the  word '  laconic  ' — is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  following  story,  told  by  Herodotus.  Some  Samians 
came  to  Sparta  to  ask  for  aid  against  the  tyrant  Polycrates, 
and  "  had  audience  of  the  magistrates,  before  whom  they  made 
a  long  speech,  as  was  natural  with  persons  greatly  in  need  of 
help.  Now  after  this  speech  was  ended  the  Spartans  replied 
that  they  had  forgotten  the  first  half  of  it  and  could  make 
nothing  of  the  remainder.  So  the  Samians  had  another 
audience,  whereat  they  simply  said,  showing  a  bag  that  they 
had  brought  with  them.  The  hag  needs  flour.  The  Spartans 
answered  that  they  did  not  need  to  have  said  The  hag.*'  In 
the  speeches  attributed  by  Thucydides  to  lyacedaemonians 
during  the  Peloponnesian  War  they  seem  to  be  quite  as  fond 
of  long-winded  argument  as  other  speakers.  But  the  pitilessly 
curt  question  by  which,  Thucydides  says,  they  decided  the 
fate  of  the  Plataeans  certainly  savoured  of  Spartan  brevity. 

A  curious  Spartan  custom  (scarcely  traceable  to  their 
northern  origin)  was  that  of  not  only  allowing,  even  in  regard 
to  female  dress,  a  free  exposure  of  the  person,  but  also  of 
insisting  on  nudity,  in  the  case  of  both  sexes,  on  certain  public 
occasions,  such  as  displays  of  gymnastic  exercises.  What 
many  might  regard  as  a  survival  of  barbarism  was  regarded 
not  only  by  the  Spartans,  but  in  course  of  time  (as  Thucydides 

*  See  Grote,  ii.  307,  and  Plato's  Hippias  Major. 

95 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
seems  to  intimate)  by  all  Hellenes,  as  a  proof  of  higher  civiliza- 
tion— though  only  as  far  as  male  nudity  was  concerned.  How 
different  the  feeling  in  the  rest  of  Greece  was  in  regard  to 
female  nudity  can  be  seen  from  the  fact  that,  though  nude 
male  statues  in  early  times  are  the  rule,  undraped  female 
statues  are  extremely  rare  until  about  400. 

The  Dorian  race,  like  some  other  northern  races,  seems  to 
have  possessed  very  little  art  instinct ;  but,  as  has  happened 
in  other  cases,  the  intermingling  of  the  vigorous  northern 
with  the  softer  and  more  imaginative  southern  nature  produced 
a  very  fine  type  of  artistic  character.  Many  of  the  Dorian 
or  half-Dorian  cities  of  Hellas,  such  as  Argos,  Sicyon,  Syracuse, 
Halicarnassus,  and  Acragas,  were  distinguished  for  art — for 
their  sculpture,  their  coins,  their  magnificent  temples — while 

I  Sparta,  or  the  dominant  class  in  Sparta,  remained  to  a  wonder- 
ful degree  purely  Dorian,  and  inartistic.  Some  writers  have 
suggested  that  before  the  introduction  of  their^jnilitary^dij- 
cipline  the  tastes  of  the  Spartans  were  somewhat  more  cultured 
than  they  were  in  historical  times.  However  that  may  be,  a 
certain  amount  of  art  feeling  seems  to  have  survived  even  that 
discipline,  for  although,  as  Professor  Gardner  says,  *'  the 
traditional  notion  of  the  Spartan  character  is  hardly  such  as 
to  lead  us  to  expect  that  Sparta  was  in  early  times  a  centre  of 
artistic  work  and  influence,"  nevertheless  we  do  find  that 
the  art  of  sculpture,  probably  introduced  from  Crete,  flourished 
in  Sparta  in  the  seventh  century,  and  we  hear  of  Sparta  being 
visited  by  the  great  lycsbian  musician,  Terpander  (676),  and 
by  the  Lydian  lyric  poet,  Alcman,^  who  is  said  to  have  made 
it  his  home  (c.  650). 

Terpander  is  said  to  have  instituted  at  Sparta  a  musical 
contest  at  the  great  festival  in  honour  of  the  Carneian  Apollo. 
He  was  the  musician  who  added  three  strings  to  the  tetrachord 
of  the  lyre.  It  may  seem  strange  that  the  conservative 
Spartans  gave  him  such  a  friendly  reception,  for  on  a  later 
occasion,  when  Timotheus  of  Miletus,  who  had  added  four 

*  Fragments  of  songs  by  Alcman  composed  for  choirs  of  Spartan  girls  are 
still  extant. 

96 


THE   DARK    A.GE 

strings  to  the  heptachord,  visited  Sparta,  the  ephors,  says 
Cicero,  ordered  his  extra  strings  to  be  broken  before  he  was 
allowed  to  compete. 

By  the  way,  Terpander  seems  to  have  got  credit  for  what 
he  was  not  the  first  to  invent,  seeing  that  on  a  Cretan  sarco- 
phagus (Fig.  25)  of  a  date  at  least  eight  centuries  before 
Terpander  a  musician  is  depicted  with  a  lyre  of  seven  strings. 

We  know,  of  course,  very  little  about  Greek  music  of  this 
age,  but  it  seems  that  the  native  Dorian  music  not  only 
differed  from  the  lyydian,  Aeolian,  Phrygian,  and  lastian 
(Ionian)  in  '  mode ' — whether  that  means  scale  or  pitch — 
but  also  in  rhythm  and  time,  being  used  generally  as 
accompaniment  to  processionals^  and  ^martial  strains  rather 
than  to  bardic  and  lyric  poetry.  The  Homeric  KiOapi?  (cithara), 
or  phorminx,  was  perhaps  originally  the  harp  or  lute  of  the 
northern  races,  and  probably  this  instrument  rather  than  the 
lyra  or  chelys  (tortoise-shell) — i,e.  the  Aegaean  and  Egyptian 
lyre — was  popular  at  Sparta,  and  what  delighted  the  soul  of 
the  Spartiat  was  doubtless  the  old  martial  ballad  or  war-song, 
such  as  we  shall  hear  of  when  we  come  to  Tyrtaeus. 

We  have  wandered  somewhat  from  the  Dark  Age  while 
following  up  things  which  had  their  first  origins  in  that  eraj 
Before  passing  on  to  what  until  lately,  before  the  discovery 
of  the  Minoan  and  Mycenaean  civihzations,  was  regarded  as 
the  beginning  of  Greek  history,  I  shall  in  the  following  sections 
briefly  discuss  two  subjects,  namely,  'Dipylon'  antiquities 
and  Hesiod's  poems,  the  consideration  of  which  may  throw  faint 
shafts  of  Hght  into  the  obscurity  of  the  two  centuries  preceding 
the  first  Olympiad.  In  the  third  section  I  shall  offer  a  few 
remarks  about  the  contemporary  history  of  certain  nations 
closely  connected  with  the  history  of  Greece.  Of  these  the 
I  somewhat  mysterious  Phoenician  people  specially  interests  us, 
for  in  early  times  it  came  into  closer  contact  with  the  Hellenic 
world  than  did  the  great  Oriental  empires  or  Egypt,  and  the 
desperate  conflict  of  this  Semitic  race  with  the  Sicilian  Greeks 
and  later  with  the  Romans  lends  additional  interest  to  the 
subject. 

c  97 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

SECTION  A  ;   '  DIPYLON '  ANTIQUITIES 

The  expression  '  Dipylon  antiquities  '  is  used  rather  loosely 
to  cover  all  Greek  relics  of  the  age  to  which  belong  many  of  the 
objects  found  in  an  ancient  cemetery  excavated  near  the  ruins 
of  the  Dipylon — that  is,  the  '  Double  Gate  '  of  Athens,  a  great 
city  gate  with  an  inner  and  an  outer  portal,  probably  built 
in  Periclean  times  not  far  from  the  more  ancient  and  smaller 
Sacred  Gate,  through  which  the  Sacred  Way  led  to  Eleusis, 
passing  through  the  Outer  Cerameicus  (Potters'  Quarter). 
The  Cerameicus  was  used  as  the  cemetery  of  Athens,  and  many 
beautiful  monuments  (stelae)  of  a  later  age  are  still  to  be  seen 
there,  in  the  *  Street  of  Tombs.'  The  ancient  cemetery  near 
the  Dipylon  was  to  a  great  extent  covered  by  later  tombs, 
under  and  amidst  which  have  been  excavated  some  hundreds  of 
ancient  graves.  Some  of  these  are  said  to  date  from  the  ninth 
century  or  even  earlier.  In  many  of  the  graves  of  the  '  Dipylon 
age  '  (say  looo  to  800  B.C.)  the  dead  had  been  buried  unburnt ; 
in  some  their  ashes  were  found.  The  most  valuable  relics  were 
very  numerous  fragments  of  pottery,  as  well  as  entire  vases, 
some  of  which,  of  large  size,  were  standing  upright  on  the  top 
of  shaft-graves  or  tile-built  tombs.  The  oldest  of  this  pottery, 
which  is  of  red  clay  painted  with  lustrous  black  on  a  yellowish 
surface,  is  geometric  in  its  style,  showing  that  there  had  been 
a  curious  relapse  from  the  much  earlier  Mycenaean  style,  in 
which  we  have  already  found  sea  animals  and  even  human 
beings  depicted.  These  early  Dipylon  vases  (see  Fig.  35)  show 
a  fine  decorative  sense,  but  at  first  offer  nothing  but  geometric 
patterns.  Then  they  begin  to  introduce  animals,  and  more 
generally  birds,  of  an  amusingly  primitive  type.  Then  they 
give  other  animals,  such  as  horses ;  then  human  figures ;  and 
finally  we  have  large  compositions  (found,  however,  only  on 
Athenian  Dipylon  vases)  showing  an  ambitious  style  of  painting 
not  far  removed  from  that  of  the  first  black-figured  Attic  vases, 
such  as  the  Frangois  Vase  (Fig.  39) .  These  pictures  give  by  far 
the  most  clear  and  intelligible  information  that  we  possess  con- 
cerning the  '  Dipylon  age.'     Almost  all  else  besides  pottery 

98 


34-  DiPYi^oN  Vase 

See  List  of  Illustrations 


98 


THE    DARK    AGE 

seems  to  have  entirely  disappeared,  except  some  old  founda- 
tions and  a  vast  quantity  of  bronze  and  terra-cotta  objects, 
most  of  which  tell  us  next  to  nothing. 

First  to  be  noticed  are  the  ships.  They  are  biremes,  with 
forty  or  fifty  oarsmen  in  two  ranks,  and  this  proves  that  the 
Athenians  already  possessed  the  beginnings  of  a  fleet  and  a 
considerable  skill  in  shipbuilding  and  naval  matters.  The 
ships  seem  even  already  to  be  furnished  with  rams  at  the  bows. 
But  it  also  seems  to  show  that  these  pictures  date  before  the 
introduction  of  the  trireme,  which  was  known  to  the  Corinthians 
by  about  700,  as  we  have  already  seen  ;  indeed,  the  picture  of 
an  Athenian  bireme  given  in  Fig.  34  may  be  of  a  date  two 
centuries  before  700,  and  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  and 
valuable  confirmation  of  what  we  have  heard  on  the  subject 
of  the  Athenian  naucrariae  (p.  ^^), 

Then  we  have  numerous  pictures  of  horses  and  of  chariots  : 
first  two-horsed  chariots,  with  very  primitive  horses  and  with 
men  whose  wasp-waists  remind  one  of  Minoan  and  Mycenaean 
art ;  and  in  some  cases  much  of  the  human  figure  is  concealed 
by  the  great  Mycenaean  or  Minoan  figure-of-eight  shield, 
while  in  others  the  smaller  round  shield  is  held  by  the  handle. 
Then  we  find — what  are  not  found  in  Homer — four-horsed 
chariots,  and  also  even  horsemen.  Finally  we  have  scenes 
— sea-fights,  processions,  funeral  ceremonies,  &c.  Some  of 
the  funeral  scenes  intimate  an  ostentation  and  magnificence 
quite  astonishing  in  this  Dark  Age — although  not  unknown  to 
us  in  Homer — the  bier  being  attended  by  a  great  number  of 
chariots  or  ships. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  Athenians  (and  doubtless  of 
other  Greek  peoples)  in  the  '  Dipylon  '  age  is  depicted  graphi- 
cally, though  perhaps  not  flatteringly,  on  these  vases.  Both 
men  and  women  have  impossibly  narrow  waists,  and  the  legs, 
when  in  view,  are  often  enormously  thick.  Much  of  this  is,  of 
I  course,  due  to  want  of  skill  and  exaggeration,  but  the  main 
[features  of  the  dress  are  doubtless  true.  The  women  are 
dressed  much  in  the  same  fashion  as  the  Minoan  and  Mycenaean 
women,  in  tight  bodices  and  bell-shaped  skirts — such  as  Hesiod 

99 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

also  describes  (p.  107) .  It  is  evident  that  the  Achaean  peplos  of 
Homer's  women,  if  it  ever  became  fashionable  at  Athens  in 
early  days,  had  in  the  period  1000-800  given  way  again 
to  the  earlier  Mycenaean  style  of  dress,  while  the  square 
Doric  dress,  with  a  flap  over  the  shoulder  needing  a  long  pin 
ox  fibula  (brooch,  safety-pin),  such  as  one  sees  on  the  Fran9ois 
Vase  (Fig.  39),  had  not  yet  been  adopted  at  Athens,  although 
the  immense  number  of  very  long  metal  pins  and  of  large 
fibulae  found  with  later  *  Dipylon '  vases  in  Boeotia  and  at 
Argos  (not  to  mention  Sparta)  shows  that  fashion  changed 
rapidly,  as  it  is  wont  to  do.^ 

Everything  seems  to  point  to  a  civilization  at  Athens  in  the 
Dark  Age  something  like  the  old  Mycenaean,  and  not  much 
changed  either  by  the  Achaean  (Homeric)  or  the  later  Doric 
influence — at  all  events,  in  its  earlier  stages. 

Pottery  of  the  same  kind  as  the  Athenian,  but  not  with  large 
painted  scenes,  has  been  excavated  from  the  temple  of  Apollo 
on  Mount  Ptoos,  in  Boeotia,  and  also  at  Tanagra  and  Thebes — 
mostly  geometric  in  style,  but  some  of  it  evidently  dating  from 
late  Mycenaean  times,  notably  an  earthenware  box  discovered 
at  Thebes,  on  which  we  find  the  Earth-Mother  with  her  animals 

In  the  great  Doric  temple  of  Aphaia  and  the  shrine  of 
Aphrodite  in  Aegina  much  pottery  has  been  excavated,  some 
of  it  Mycenaean  and  some  imported  or  native  *  Dipylon  ' 
ware  and  early  Corinthian  This  pottery  supplements  the 
evidence  from  Athens. 

In  the  temple  of  Hera  at  Argos,  excavated  by  the  American 
School  at  Athens,  have  been  found,  besides  many  bronzes  and 
long  dress-pins  (used  in  the  Doric  female  dress),  a  number  of 
fragments  of  vases  with  pictures  of  horses  and  chariots  like 
those  discovered  at  Athens,  and  of  the  same  '  Dipylon '  period. 

On  the  island  Thera  '  Dipylon  '  ware  and  other  relics  of  this 
age  have  been  found,  and  what  are  possibly  some  of  the  first 
known  Greek  inscriptions  cut  on  rock. 

At  Delphi  and  at  Olympia  thousands  of  bronzes  dating  from 
this  age  have  been  excavated,  all  testifying  to  no  mean  civiliza- 

*  For  more  on  the  subject  of  dress  see  Note  B. 
100 


THE   DARK    AGE 

tion  and  to  an  enormous  cult  of  certain  deities.  At  Tiryns, 
besides  much  else,  we  have  various  representations  of  the 
female  dress  of  the  Dark  Age,  and  again  we  find  a  tight-fitting 
frock,  evidently  more  like  the  Mycenaean  bodice  and  skirt  than 
the  square  Doric  chiton  fastened  at  the  shoulder  with  pins. 

Contemporary  with  this  '  Dipylon  '  ware,  found  in  all  these 
places  and  testifying  to  a  civilization  very  different  from  the 
Spartan,  we  have  the  wonderfully  beautiful  proto-Corinthian 
ware,  which  shows  a  very  advanced  state  of  artistic  skill, 
but  gives  us  no  such  pictures  of  contemporary  life  as  the 
Athenian  vases.  This  is  unfortunate,  for  Corinth  in  this  age 
was  a  great  trade  emporium  and  a  naval  power,  and  it 
would  be  most  interesting  to  discover  some  evidences  of  this 
Corinthian  civilization. 

Now,  if  we  turn  to  Sparta  we  find  something  quite  different. 
Excavations  made  by  the  British  School  of  Athens  have  brought 
to  light  what  seems  to  be  the  base  of  the  great  altar  of  Artemis 
Orthia.  This  goddess  and  her  altar  are  mentioned  by  Xenophon 
and  by  Plutarch.^  Spartan  youths  were  flogged  at  the  altar 
in  order  to  test  their  endurance,  and  sometimes  died  under 
the  ordeal.  In  or  near  this  old  altar  and  the  neighbouring 
temple  of  Artemis  Orthia  (which  existed  from  early  days 
down  to  about  600)  a  vast  number  of  lead  and  terra-cotta 
votive  figures  of  the  goddess,  as  well  as  bronzes  and  fragments 
of  pottery,  were  found.  The  early  pottery  is  geometric  and 
something  like  the  *  Dipylon,*  but  the  other  relics  seem  to 
point  to  quite  a  different  (Doric)  civilization.  There  are  many 
grotesque  winged  figures  and  evident  Earth-Mothers,  and  also 
many  nude  female  figures,  which  are  attributed  to  Oriental 
influence  (as  being  un-Greek),  but  which  surely  seem  to  point 
towards  the  curious  Spartan  ideas  on  this  subject  already 
mentioned. 

*  In  Hdt.  iv.  87  we  find  an  Artemis  Orthosia  at  Byzantium,  and  we  hear 
of  her  also  in  I^emnos.  Also  the  form  Orthasia  has  been  discovered  at 
Sparta.  The  word  Orthia  means  '  straight '  or  *  loud-voiced  '  in  Greek.  It 
may  refer  to  the  yells  of  the  priests  trying  to  drown  the  cries  of  human  victims 
— ^for  this  ceremony  of  bloody  flogging  may  have  been  substitutory.  But 
perhaps  it  is  some  northern  word  in  disguise. 

lOI 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

SECTION  B :   HESIOD 

The  personality  of  Hesiod  has  not  been  questioned  like  that 
of  Homer.  It  is  perhaps  too  frequently  and  strongly  affirmed 
by  Hesiod  himself,  who  names  himself  and  gives  us  a  good 
deal  about  his  father  and  his  brother  Perses,  and  a  great 
deal  about  his  own  philosophy  of  life,  whereas  nowhere  in  the 
Iliad  or  the  Odyssey  is  there  any  personal  note,  such  as  we 
have  in  Milton's  great  epic,  nor  any  suggestion  of  the  poet's 
existence,  except  in  the  opening  addresses  to  the  Muse — unless, 
indeed,  we  are  to  recognize  Homer  in  his  blind  bard,  Demodocus, 
as  we  recognize  Shakespeare  in  Prospero. 

Hesiod's  date,  however,  and  Hesiod's  poems  afford  rich 
material  for  the  sceptic. 

Herodotus,  as  we  have  already  seen,  places  both  Hesiod  and 
Homer  at  about  850  or  900,  and  he  mentions  Hesiod  before 
Homer,  as  do  several  other  writers.  But  internal  evidence  seems 
to  show  that  the  Homeric  poems  are  older  than  the  Erga  and  the 
Theogonia,  and  such  modern  criticism  as  delights  in  "  bringing 
low  the  strong  and  diminishing  the  illustrious,"  as  Hesiod 
expresses  it,  has  brought  low  and  diminished  his  date  little 
by  little  until  we  find  him  flourishing  about  700,  seventy  years 
and  more  after  the  first  Olympiad. 

To  discuss  the  question  in  detail  is  here  impossible.  As  in 
the  case  of  Homer,  I  can  only  state  my  belief.  Much  evidence 
seems  to  me  to  point  to  about  850  as  the  date  of  Hesiod's 
poems,  and  this  belief  is  confirmed  by  something  besides, 
and  perhaps  better  than,  philological  and  archaeological 
arguments. 

About  two  centuries  after  Hesiod's  age  we  shall  meet  with 
what  is  sometimes  called  the  first  exact  date  in  Greek  history. 
It  is  the  date  April  6,  648,  on  which  day,  astronomers  tell  us, 
a  total  solar  eclipse  took  place.  Now  Hesiod  tells  us  something 
about  the  star  Arcturus  which,  although  it  certainly  does  not 
allow  us  to  make  such  an  exact  deduction,  does  supply  us 
with  very  interesting  information.  He  says  that  Arcturus 
had  its  sunset-rising  sixty  days  after  the  winter  solstice, 
102 


THE    DARK    AGE 

i.e.  about  February  19.  But  Arcturus  now  rises  at  sunset  in 
Greece  about  March  30,  and  one  can  calculate  from  this 
difference  (caused  by  the  precession  of  equinoxes)  that  Hesiod 
probably  lived  about  2780  years  ago.  This  gives  his  date 
at  about  870.  He  had,  of  course,  no  means  of  observing 
very  accurately  such  risings  and  settings  of  the  stars,  and 
he  may  have  got  his  information  from  some  older  observer, 
so  that  the  evidence  cannot  be  regarded  as  quite  exact,  but 
within  fifty  years  or  so  it  seems  to  be  trustworthy. 

Hesiod  tells  us  that  his  father  came  from  Cyme  in  Aeolis, 
whither  perhaps  the  family  had  migrated  from  Aeolian  Boeotia 
(Thessaly),  and  had  settled  at  Ascra,  on  the  northern  slopes  of 
Mount  Helicon — a  place  "bad  in  winter,  wretched  in  summer, 
and  never  pleasant."  Possibly  Hesiod  was  born  at  Cyme, 
and  he  may  have  had  memories  of  the  softer  climate  of  Asia 
Minor,  as  also  of  the  Aeolic  dialect,  which  he  sometimes  uses ; 
but  he  seems  to  have  passed  his  early  years  at  Ascra, 
shepherding  his  father's  flocks  or  working  on  the  farm,  and 
doubtless  often  wandering  alone  on  Mount  Helicon  and 
neglecting  his  work ;  and  against  the  theory  of  his  Asiatic 
birth  stands  the  fact  that,  as  he  tells  us,  he  was  only  once  on 
the  sea,  namely,  when  he  crossed  the  Euripus  Strait,  from 
Aulis  to  Euboea,  in  order  to  take  part  in  a  poetical  contest — 
at  which  he  won  a  tripod.  lyCgend,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
asserts  that  he  won  that  tripod  in  a  contest  against  Homer 
himself.  On  the  death  of  his  father  his  brother  Perses 
succeeded  in  ousting  him  from  his  share  of  the  farm  by  bribing 
the  judges — "  gift-devouring  kings,"  as  he  calls  them. 

The  poems  attributed  to  Hesiod,  and  cited  as  his  by  Pindar, 
Aristophanes,  Plato,  and  other  ancient  writers,  are  the  Works 
and  Days  (Erga  kai  Hemerai,  i.e.  '  Farming  Operations  and 
lyUcky  and  Unlucky  Days  ')  and  the  Theogonia  ('  The  Genea- 
logy of  the  Gods').  Another  poem.  The  Shield  of  Heracles, 
is  generally  printed  with  his  works,  but  is  evidently  of  later  date. 
The  two  former  poems  contain,  no  doubt,  many  interpolations 
made  by  rhapsodes  and  later  '  Hesiodic  poets,'  but  there  is 
much  that  is  undoubtedly   authentic   and  valuable   to   the 

103 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
historian.  Moreover,  what  is  of  more  importance,  across  the 
homespun  warp  of  rules  and  maxims  there  runs  many  a  bright 
thread  of  Horatian  wit  and  wisdom  and  of  deep  and  true 
feehng,  and  at  times  there  comes  a  golden  flash  of  true  poetry, 
as  in  the  description  of  the  Five  Ages  in  the  Erga  and  the 
celebrated  meeting  of  Hesiod  with  the  Muses  on  Mount  Helicon 
which  forms  the  opening  of  the  Theogonia. 

As  a  creative  poet  and  a  master  of  language  Homer  is  incom- 
parably the  greater,  but  Hesiod  touches  at  times  chords  of 
far  deeper  import,  giving  voice  to  his  own  human  nature  and 
that  of  the  common  people. 
The  Erga  ('  Works  and  Days ')  is  addressed  to  his  brother, 
most  foolish  Perses,''  to  whom  he  gives  many  a  sharp  reproof 
and  much  sage  advice,  in  order  to  save  him  from  being  ruined 
by  his  thriftless  and  dishonest  ways  and  his  love  of  lounging 
and  gossip.  The  poem  offers  us  a  very  graphic  picture  of 
Boeotian  country  life  in  the  '  Dipylon  '  age.  Hesiod 's  love  of 
the  country  and  of  animals  and  of  the  stars,  his  interest  in 
farming  and  in  ships  and  boats  (in  spite  of  his  disHke  of  the 
"  churlish  sea"),  his  reverence  for  Zeus  and  his  laws,  his  behef 
in  prayer  and  in  good  guardian  spirits  (1.  122),  his  conviction 
that  work  is  the  happiest  lot  for  a  mortal,  *'  whatever  he  may 
be  in  fortune  "  ;  that  often  "  the  half  is  more  than  the  whole  "  ; 
that  wealth  should  not  be  "  clutched  at "  nor  won  by  guile  of 
tongue,  but  accepted  as  the  gift  of  heaven  ;  that  home-life  is  far 
better  than  gadding  about  and  gossiping — all  this  testifies  to  a 
state  of  mind  by  no  means  entirely  miserable  and  discontented 
among  the  country  folk  of  Boeotia.  The  very  epithets  and 
names  that  he  gives  to  animals  show  his  delight  in  them  and 
his  keen  observation.  The  ox  is  described  as  if  he  were,  hke 
the  Irishman's  pig,  a  member  of  the  family  ;  the  snail  is  the 
'  house-carrier,'  the  ant  is  '  the  knowing  one,'  the  cuttle-fish 
is  '  the  boneless  one,'  wild  beasts  are  '  forest-sleepers,'  the 
swallow  is  '  early- wailing,'  the  spider  is  '  high-hovering.' 
Bees,  drones,  hawks,  ravens,  nightingales,  dogs,  mules,  are  all 
mentioned  with  knowledge  and  sympathy.  The  horse  (if  we 
exclude  Pegasus)  is  referred  to  once  only,  and  that  in  a  line  of 
104 


36.  Foundations  of  ApoIvI^o's  Tempi^e,  West  Dei^phi  104 


THE    DARK    AGE 

doubtful  authenticity.  As  regards  Hesiod's  keen  observation 
of  nature,  what  could  be  more  Wordsworthian  than  his  likening 
of  a  certain  kind  of  tree-leaf  as  it  unfolds  in  spring  to  the 
*'  foot  of  an  ahghting  raven  "  ? 

But  there  is  a  dark  side  to  his  picture.  He  inveighs  with 
great  bitterness  against  the  avarice  and  injustice  of  this  age 
of  iron  in  which  fate  has  set  him — this  age  in  which  ''  money  is 
the  life  of  wretched  mortals,"  and  which  will  go  from  bad  to 
worse  until,  *' veiling  their  fair  faces  in  white  mantles.  Honour 
and  Righteous  Indignation  shall  leave  mankind  and  flee  away 
from  the  broad-wayed  earth  to  Olympus,  to  the  race  of  the 
immortal  gods."  He  denounces  people  for  their  jealousies  and 
strife  and  scandal-mongering  and  eternal  lawsuits.  *'  Potter 
quarrels  with  potter  and  carpenter  with  carpenter;  beggar  envies 
beggar  and  minstrel  minstrel."  And  his  bitterness  is  especially 
intense  against  the  heartlessness  and  greed  and  injustice 
that  he  sees  in  those  around  him — intensest,  perhaps,  against 
his  own  brother  and  the  unrighteous  judges  who  have  deprived 
him  of  his  heritage.  He  calls  upon  Zeus  to  smite  with  his 
thunderbolt,  and  to  send  again  to  earth  his  daughter,  Justice,^ 
who  has  been  dragged  with  insults  through  the  streets  by 
mortals  and  expelled  from  her  own  tribunals — that  goddess 
who  alone  can  bring  back  peace  and  golden  prosperity  to  a 
land  ruined  by  tyranny  and  the  idleness  of  wealth. 

We  have  thus  a  picture  of  aristocratic  oppression  such  as 
we  found  also  intimated  at  Athens,  and  of  an  unhappy  state 
of  things  among  the  working  classes.  I^aws  and  law-courts 
and  law-court  holidays  are  mentioned,  but  it  is  evident  that 
the  power  of  *'  deciding  questions  of  ancient  right  [OeVto-ra?] 
by  straight  judgments,"  of  which  Hesiod  speaks,  too  often 
lay  in  the  hands  of  "  gift-devouring  kings."  Hesiod's  cry  for 
justice  and  for  equality  before  the  law  is  the  earliest  in  European 
literature.  So,  too,  he  is  the  first  to  assert  the  nobiHty  of 
work  rather  than  that  of  rank  and  wealth,  and  to  claim  for 

*  The  word  Dike  (Justice),  or  some  word  derived  from  it,  occurs  fourteen 
times  in  thirty  lines.  Homer's  description  of  the  blessings  brought  by  a 
good  king  offers  a  striking  contrast  {Od.  xix.  109). 

105 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
poetry  a  function  higher  than  that  of  recounting  pretty  fictions 
in  the  halls  of  the  nobihty.^ 

Hesiod  touches  at  times  on  questions  of  the  deepest  import. 
His  maxims  are,  however,  not  always  such  as  we  approve. 
Thus  he  tells  us  that  "  easy  and  smooth  is  the  way  to  evil 
and  toilsome  the  way  to  virtue,  steep  and  rough  at  first ;  but 
when  one  reaches  the  height  then  it  becomes  easier,  though 
ever  difiicult " — which  reads  like  a  combined  quotation  from 
the  Bible  and  from  Dante.  But  he  also  tells  us  to  "  love  those 
who  love  us,"  to  "  give  to  him  that  giveth,  but  not  to  him  that 
giveth  not,"  and  to  ask  a  next-door  neighbour  to  dinner  because 
he  may  prove  useful  in  some  future  village  squabble.  Again, 
"  Give  good  measure,"  he  says,  "  yes,  an  over-measure  if  you 
can,  so  that  you  may  find  a  sure  supply  when  you  need  it." 

Another  of  his  maxims  shows  a  dry  humour  and  a  worldly 
wisdom,  doubtless  learnt  by  bitter  experience.  "  Even  in  the 
case  of  a  brother,"  he  says,  "  insist  on  having  a  witness — but 
do  it  with  a  laugh." 

In  the  Erga  there  are  evident  signs  of  that  superstitious 
dread  of  the  supernatural  which  we  noticed  in  the  older  = 
Greek  religion,  but  which  is  scarcely  perceptible  in  Homer. 
Hesiod  speaks  with  gloomy  apprehension  of  all  the  curses,  the 
swarming  diseases  and  things  of  dread,  that  have  been  brought 
on  the  earth  by  the  theft  of  Prometheus  and  the  creation  of 
the  first  woman.  Pandora.  "  The  land,"  he  exclaims,  "  is  full 
of  evil  things  and  full  the  sea."  And  he  gives  numerous  rules 
for  the  avoidance  of  evil  results  :  *'  Not  at  a  feast  of  the  gods 
to  cut  the  dry  from  the  quick  on  the  five-branched  thing 
[the  hand]  "  ;  "  not,  when  men  are  drinking,  to  lay  the  wine- 
ladle  over  the  wine-bowl — for  'tis  a  most  fatal  thing  to  do."  M 

*  ''  Field- abiding  shepherds,  shameless  ones,  mere  belly-gods,"  exclaim  the 
Muses  who  bring  to  Hesiod  the  staff  of  laurel,  "  we  know  to  tell  of  many- 
things  resembling  what  is  real,  but  we  know  also  to  sing,  whene'er  we  wish, 
of  what  is  true."  Doubtless  he  refers  here  once  more  to  lounging  and  scandal- 
mongering,  such  as  was  connected  with  recitations  of  old  ballads.  It 
by  no  means  follows  that  he  considered  '  didactic  '  poetry  higher  than  such 
poetry  as  that  of  Homer.  He  was  too  good  a  poet  for  that ;  but  he  believed, 
as  Aristophanes  did,  that  the  poet  was  the  '  teacher  of  men '  in  the  highest 
sense. 

io6 


37-  Archaic  Statue 

Excavated  on  the  Acropolis 

See  List  of  Illustrations 


io6 


THE    DARK    AGE 

Then  he  gives  a  long  list  of  lucky  and  unlucky  days,  reminding 
one  forcibly  of  Old  Moore's  Almanack. 

lyastly,  dress  is  sometimes  mentioned.  In  his  description 
of  the  effects  of  cold  weather  (which  he  evidently  hated) 
Hesiod  advises  one  to  get  as  a  ''  protection  for  one's  flesh"  a 
thick-woven  soft  chlaina  (mantle)  and  a  chiton  (tunic)  reaching 
down  to  the  feet,  and  ox-hide  sandals  lined  with  felt.  This 
male  attire  is  thoroughly  Homeric  ;  but  the  dress  of  the 
fashionable  lady  among  these  Boeotian  country  folk  seems  to 
have  been  rather  of  the  Mycenaean  style,  such  as  we  found 
in  contemporary  Dipylon  vase-paintings.  Doubtless  the  lady 
in  question  wore  a  dress  of  the  latest  Athenian  fashion,  with 
tight  bodice  and  flounced  skirt  and  well-padded  protrusions. 
Hesiod  is  giving  advice  to  a  young  farmer,  such  as  his  brother  : 
*'  Don't  let  yourself  be  taken  in,"  he  says,  "  by  any  fashionably 
dressed  woman  who  comes  trying  with  wheedHng  flatteries  to 
making  herself  mistress  of  your  farm  " — and  the  real  meaning 
of  the  epithet  he  applies  to  her  is  "  furnished  with  a  big  bustle 
behind." 

The  Theogonia  is  more  Homeric  in  its  language  than  the 
Erga,  and  of  a  quite  different  tone.  It  is  chiefly  taken 
up  with  a  long  account  of  the  genesis  of  the  Universe  from 
Chaos  and  with  a  genealogy  of  the  gods.  The  presence  of 
I/Ove  as  the  formative  and  creative  principle  in  this  Hesiodic 
Genesis  is  very  remarkable.  It  forestalls  some  of  the  wisest 
guesses  of  later  Greek  sages.  The  poem  does  not  throw  so 
much  light  as  the  Erga  on  life  in  the  Dark  Age,  but  it  shows 
that  a  very  complex  and  complete  mythology  had  already 
grown  up  around  the  hierarchy  formed  by  the  superimposition 
of  the  northern  on  the  old  Aegaean  or  Pelasgian  deities.     The 

;  opening  lines  of  the  Theogonia,  describing  the  visit  of  the 
Muses  to  Hesiod  on  Mount  Helicon,  are  of  very  high  merit  as 

•  poetry,  and,  together  with  not  a  few  other  passages  in  his 
poems,  entirely  justify  the  honour  conferred  by  these  daughters 

'i  of  Memory  on  one  whom  a  modern  writer  has  called  a  '  gifted 
rustic' 


I 


107 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

SECTION  C :   THE  PHOENICIANS  AND  SOME  OTHER 
NATIONS  DURING  THE  DARK  AGE 

Since  the  discovery  of  the  Minoan  and  Mycenaean  civiliza- 
tions the  Phoenicians  have  lost  the  credit  of  having  introduced 
art  into  Crete  and  Greece.  But  they  had  most  of  the  Aegaean 
and  Mediterranean  sea- trade  in  their  hands  for  some  centuries 
— probably  from  the  decline  of  the  Minoan  naval  supremacy 
until  the  rise  of  Corinthian  and  Athenian  sea-power  (about 
1400  to  750).  Indeed,  in  still  earher  times  they  seem  to  have 
been  a  nation  of  merchant  princes,  such  as  Isaiah  describes 
them  (xxiii.).  They  probably  introduced  the  Egyptian 
decimal  coinage  into  Babylon  as  well  as  the  '  ell/  They  are 
said  to  have  brought  the  vine  and  the  olive  to  Crete.  In  old 
Egyptian  monuments  the  tribute  of  the  Phoenicians  includes 
the  products  of  many  distant  lands.  In  the  time  of  Moses 
(c.  1350)  they  possessed  the  colony  of  Tartessus,  or  Tarshish, 
in  Spain;  and  had  perhaps  already  reached  Britain  and  the 
Baltic,  as  well  as  the  west  coast  of  Africa  (where  later  they  had 
three  hundred  factories)  and  the  Euxine.  Gades  (Cadiz)  was 
founded  probably  about  the  time  of  the  Trojan  War,  and  Utica 
about  1 100.  In  the  time  of  Solomon  (960)  they  had  fleets  also 
on  the  Red  Sea,  which  brought  gold  from  India  or  South  Africa. 
Indeed,  perhaps  these  were  the  oldest  fleets  possessed  by  the 
Phoenicians,  for  the  men  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  are  said  to  have 
come  originally  from  the  Red  Sea,  or  Persian  Gulf — perhaps 
from  the  '  land  of  Punt,'  as  Abyssinia  or  Somaliland  is  called  in 
an  Egyptian  inscription  of  the  Vth  Dynasty  (c.  3000) .  Possibly, 
too,  the  Greek  name  Phoenix,  which  was  believed  to  mean 
'  the  red  man,'  or  '  the  man  of  the  red  land  '  (land  of  the  sun, 
or  sun-god?),  may  have  originally  meant  '  the  man  of  Punt' 
(cf.  I^atin  Punicus,  Poenus). 

When  Herodotus  visited  new  Tyre  (c.  450)  he  was  told  by 
the  priests  of  Melcarth,  the  Phoenician  Heracles,  that  ancient 
Tyre  was  founded  about  2750.  If  Tyre  was  the  '  daughter  of 
Sidon,'  as  we  are  told  in  the  Bible,  Sidon  must  have  existed 
from  at  least  3000,  and  it  was  the  chief  city  of  Phoenicia 
108 


THE    DARK    AGE 

until  about  1120,  when  it  was  conquered  by  the  Philistines. 
A  century  or  so  later,  in  the  days  of  Solomon  and  King 
Hiram,  Tyre  took  the  lead.  Both  Jezebel,  Ahab's  wife, 
and  Queen  Dido  were  members  of  the  same  dynasty  as 
Hiram.  At  this  era  Assyria  became  very  powerful  under 
Shalmanezer  II,  and  Tyre  was  captured  by  the  Assyrians. 
Perhaps  on  account  of  this  Assyrian  oppression  a  large  body 
of  Phoenicians,  led,  as  tradition  says,  by  the  Princess  Klissa 
(Dido),  made  a  new  home  (c.  825)  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  not 
far  from  the  older  colony  Utica.  This  new  city  was  Carthage. 
The  fact  that  the  Phoenicians  had  settlements  in  all  quarters 
of  the  Mediterranean  even  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  that 
they  doubtless  took  with  them  the  worship  of  the  bull-headed 
Phoenician  sun-god  Baal,  or  Moloch,  to  whom  human  sacrifices 
were  made,  has  very  naturally  caused  many  to  believe  that 
the  Cretan  bull-worship  and  the  Minotaur  and  Talos  legends 
were  originally  derived  from  this  source,  and  that  the  myths 
of  Theseus  and  Iphigeneia  are  reminiscences  of  the  abolition  of 
Phoenician  human  sacrifice  by  Greek  influence.  However  that 
may  be,  it  is  evident  that  the  Phoenicians  had  little  or  nothing 
to  do  with  Aegaean  and  Cretan  art  or  with  ancient  Minoan 
writing.  But  they  introduced,  as  we  have  seen,  the  alphabet 
into  Hellas,  and  they  also  {pace  some  modern  writers)  possessed 
no  mean  craft  as  '  cunning  workers,'  as  the  Bible  and  also 
Homer  tell  us.  Thus  a  silver  wine-bowl  described  by  Homer 
was  "  more  beautiful  than  all  others  on  earth,  since  it  was 
wrought  by  those  cunning  workers  the  Sidonians."  Another 
such  crater  was  given  to  Menelaus  by  the  king  of  the  Sidonians, 
and  a  beautiful  peplos  worked  by  Sidonian  women  is  mentioned. 
But  it  must  be  allowed  that  the  Odyssey  usually  gives  us  a 
picture  of  the  Phoenician  not  as  craftsman  but  as  trader 
and  artful  huckster  of  gauds  and  trinkets — such  a  despicable 
creature  as  the  Phaeacian  Kuryalus  describes  when  pouring 
contempt  on  Odysseus  : 

Nay,  O  stranger,  and  truly  I  liken  thee  not  to  a  mortal 

Practised  in  any  of  all  of  the  contests  known  to  the  nations  ; 

Rather  to  one  that  frequents  with  his  well-benched  vessel  the  harbours, 

109 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Skipper,  methinks,  of  a  folk  of  the  sea  who  traffic  as  chapmen, 
Mindful  of  nought  but  the  bales  and  careful  of  nought  but  the  cargo. 
Ay  and  the  grab  and  the  gain. 

No  large  settlements  were  made  by  the  Phoenicians  on 
Aegaean  shores,  except  perhaps  Cameirus,  in  Rhodes,  but  they 
had  numerous  marts  and  purple-factories — one  perhaps  on 
the  Isthmus  of  Corinth  and  another  near  the  Peiraeus.  The 
struggle  between  the  Semitic  and  Japhetic  races — a  struggle 
which,  no  less  than  the  Persian  wars,  was  to  decide  the  destiny 
of  Kurope — took  place,  not  in  the  Aegaean,  but  in  Sicily, 
where  by  the  eighth  century  the  Phoenicians,  Uticans,  and 
Carthaginians  possessed  many  trade-stations,  and  whither 
during  the  eighth  century,  as  we  shall  see,  a  large  stream  of 
Greek  colonists  began  to  find  its  way.  This  struggle  (with 
which  the  battles  of  Himera  and  Crimisus  and  the  Punic  wars 
are  connected)  lasted  for  six  centuries,  till  the  total  demolition 
of  Carthage  by  the  Romans  in  146. 

Of  Crete  during  the  Dark  Age  very  little  is  known.  We  have 
seen  that  in  the  heroic  age,  if  we  may  accept  Homer's  account, 
it  possessed,  some  two  centuries  after  the  sack  of  Cnossus, 
ninety  or  a  hundred  towns  and  was  inhabited  by  many  different 
races,  among  whom  Dorians  are  mentioned.  The  great  Dorian 
invasion  a  century  or  so  later  evidently  subjected  the  whole 
island  to  that  race,  and  for  some  centuries  it  was  probably 
under  Dorian  kings  and  had  a  constitution  not  unlike  the 
Spartan,  except  that  there  seem  to  have  been  no  perioeci,  but 
only  serfs  and  nobles.  I^ater  we  find  the  kingly  office  aboHshed 
and  an  aristocracy  in  power,  and  the  executive  in  the  hands  of 
ten  magistrates  called  cosmoi. 

Of  Cyprus  we  had  some  notice  during  the  age  of  Aegaean 
civiHzation.  Mycenaean  kings  are  said  to  have  ruled  there  in 
the  fifteenth  century.  Aegaean  pottery  of  this  era,  together 
with  Egyptian  scarabs  and  ornaments  of  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty 
(Queen  Ti  and  Amenhotep  III),  have  been  discovered  in  a 
tomb  at  Knkomi,  near  Salamis,  and  clay  tablets  have  been 
found  in  Egypt  inscribed  with  cuneiform  missives  to  the 
Pharaohs  from  these  Mycenaean  Cypriot  kings.  The  island 
no 


THE    DARK    AGE 

was  in  early  ages  sometimes  subject  to  Egypt,  and  on 
account  of  its  valuable  copper-mines  was  also  evidently 
occupied  by  Phoenicians,  but  the  latest  researches  (by 
Ohnefalsch  Richter)  seem  to  prove  that  Hellenic  civilization 
and  the  Olympian  gods  (Athene,  Heracles,  Aphrodite,  and 
others)  preceded  the  Phoenician  supremacy,  and  that  the 
Phoenician  kings  destroyed  Greek  temples  and  razed  Greek 
inscriptions.^  If  this  be  so,  the  Paphian  Aphrodite  was  not 
derived  from  the  Eastern  Astarte,  but  Astarte  was  super- 
imposed on  the  Cyprian-Greek  divinity,  who  seems  to  have 
been  a  kind  of  Earth-goddess,  or  a  Spring-goddess  (Hke  Kore), 
with  such  titles  as  *  The  Idaean  Mother '  and  *  She  who  spreadeth 
abroad  the  roses.'  The  Greeks  who  introduced  these  deities 
were,  of  course,  not  the  Mycenaeans,  but  Hellenes,  and  it  seems 
likely  that  the  old  tradition  (see  Hor.  Carm.  I,  vii.,  and  Virg. 
A  en,  i.  619)  about  Teucer,  brother  of  Ajax,  having  been 
expelled  from  Salamis  on  his  return  from  Troy  and  having 
founded  a  new  Salamis  in  Cyprus  has  for  its  basis  an  historical 
fact ;  for  about  the  time  when  the  colonization  of  Ionia  was 
at  its  height  (c.  1050)  a  considerable  body  of  Greeks,  probably 
Achaeans  with  Arcadian  and  other  followers  who  were  pressed 
by  Dorian  invaders,  are  said  to  have  left  Greece  and  to  have 
made  their  way  to  the  old  Aegaean  colonies  in  Cyprus.  The 
chief  Greek  towns  in  Cyprus  were  Paphos,  I^apathus,  Marion, 
Curion,  Salamis,  and  later  Soli ;  but  in  some  of  these  there  was 
also  a  large  Phoenician  element.  During  the  next  two  centuries 
and  more  Cyprus  seems  to  have  been  ruled  by  the  *  kings ' 
of  the  numerous  cities,  for  about  720  the  Assyrian  monarch 
Sargon  (who  carried  Israel  away  into  captivity)  conquered  the 
island,  and  we  find  in  the  inscription  on  the  stele  which  he 
set  up  there  (now  in  Berlin)  seven  Yatman  (Cyprian)  kings 
mentioned,  and  in  an  inscription  of  Assarhaddon,  the  son 
of  Sennacherib  (Fig.  38),  ten  Cypriot  kings  are  described  as 
his  subjects. 
Of  Egypt  during  this  age  the  notices  are  scanty.     In  the 

^  It  seems  strange  that  in  these  Greek  (or  Cypriot  ?)  inscriptions  neither 
Zeus  nor  Kore  nor  Dionysus  is  mentioned. 

Ill 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

period  1120-950  (from  the  time  of  Samson  and  the  Philistine 
supremacy  in  Palestine  until  the  days  of  Solomon)  it  was  ruled 
by  the  inglorious  priestly  Tanite  Dynasty  (the  XXIst).  Then 
Sheshenk,  or  Shishak,  of  the  XXIInd  Dynasty,  carried  war  into 
Palestine  and  captured  Jerusalem,  as  we  learn  from  an  inscrip- 
tion at  Karnak  (c/.  2  Chron.  xii.).  After  this  Egypt  was 
evidently  overrun  by  the  Aethiopian  hosts  of  whom  we  read  in 
2  Chron.  xiv.,  and  the  XXVth  Dynasty  was  one  of  Aethiopian 
kings.  Then,  about  674,  Egypt  is  conquered  by  the  great 
Assyrian  monarch  Assarhaddon.  The  liberation  of  Egypt 
(c.  665)  from  the  Assyrian  yoke  by  Psamtik  I  with  the  aid 
of  Ionian  *  men  of  bronze  '  opened,  as  we  shall  see  later,  a  new 
epoch,  and  brought  Egypt  into  closer  relations  with  Greece. 

The  great  empires  of  the  East,  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  have 
hitherto  come  into  no  direct  contact  with  Greece,  nor  even 
with  the  Greek  colonies,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  case  of  Sargon's 
conquest  of  Cyprus,  which  has  been  mentioned.  It  is  enough 
to  note  here  that  Assyria  during  the  Dark  Age  was  in 
constant  war  with  Babylonia,  and  in  the  ninth  century,  under 
its  great  kings  Assurnasirpal  and  Shalmanezer  II,  conquered 
Phoenicia  and  made  head  against  the  Syrian  kings  of 
Damascus. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  Assyrians  from  Egypt,  and  the 
rise  of  the  Median  power  under  Cyaxares,  these  Oriental 
peoples  will  occupy  more  of  our  attention ;  for  one  of  the 
striking  traits  which  especially  distinguish  the  history  of 
Greece  is  the  fact  that  we  are  so  often  brought  into  contact 
with  other  great  ancient  civilizations,  and  it  is  of  deep  import 
that,  although  subjected  to  such  influences,  Hellenic  art  and 
literature  and  philosophy  retained  an  almost  perfectly  in- 
dependent character,  and  have  remained  till  our  own  day  not 
only  supreme  in  beauty  of  form,  but  also  incomparable  for 
originality,  if  we  accept  that  word  in  its  true  sense. 


112 


38.     ASSARHADDON,    WITH    CapTIVK    EGYPTIAN 
AND    AETHIOPIAN  112 


CHAPTER    III 

FROM    THE    FIRST   OLYMPIAD   TO 
PEISISTRATUS 

(776  TO  560) 

An    Age    of    Coi^onization   :   The   Kuxine  :  SiciIvY  :   South  ItaIvY   : 
The  Homei;and  :  Argos  :  Sparta  :  Tyrants  and  Sages  :  Athens 

SECTIONS  :    EJGYPT  AND  CYREJNK   :  LYDIA.  LIST  OP  BASTEJRN 
KINGS  :  TH^  GAMBS  :  THE)  POETS 

AlyTHOUGH  when  we  speak  of  Greek  art  and  literature 
and  philosophy  (the  three  priceless  legacies  that  Greece 
has  left  us)  we  instinctively  think  of  Greece  itself 
and  especially  of  Athens,  which  in  the  so-called  classic  era  was 
the  *  eye  of  Hellas/  the  fact  is  that  Greece  owes  much 
of  its  fame  to  its  colonies.^  Of  colonial  origin  were  Homer, 
Archilochus,  Terpander,  Arion,  Alcaeus,  Sappho,  Stesichorus, 
Simonides,  Anacreon,  the  younger  Simonides,  Theocritus,  and 
other  Greek  poets.  The  historian  Herodotus  was  born  at 
Halicarnassus.  All  the  great  early  phifosophers  were  lonians. 
Thales,  Anaximander,  and  Anaximenes  were  of  Miletus, 
Heracleitus  of  Kphesus,  Pythagoras  of  Samos,  Xenophanes 
of  Colophon.  Of  the  seven  sages  four  were  colonials,  and 
among  celebrated  colonial  artists  may  be  mentioned  Paeonius, 
Pythagoras,  Scopas,  Polygnotus,  Parrhasius,  Apelles,  Zeuxis. 
The  arts  of  working  in  marble  and  of  bronze-casting  came,  it 
is  said,  from  Chios  and  I^esbos ;  sculpture  came  from  Crete. 
The  coins,  too,  of  many  of  the  cities  of  Greater  Hellas,  such  as 
the  beautiful  Syracusan  coins,  were  finer  than  any  produced 
in  the  mother-country  ;   and,  lastly,  many  of  the  magnificent 

^  See  dates  of  the  foundation  of  early  Greek  colonies,  p.  479. 

H  113 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

temples  in  Ionia,  Sicily,  and  Southern  Italy,  of  which  some  are 
still  standing,  were  built  long  before  the  Parthenon. 

It  is,  indeed,  a  striking  view  that  the  Hellenic  world  offers 
about  the  end  of  the  seventh  century.  Greece  itself,  with  no 
very  large  population  and  in  no  very  highly  advanced  state  of 
civilization  or  art,  is  already  the  mother  of  cities,  which 
extend  from  Sicily  and  Italy,  and  even  the  south  of  Gaul,  to 
the  further  shores  of  the  Kuxine.  The  Aeolian  and  Ionian 
and  Cyprian  Greek  cities  date,  as  we  have  seen,  from  much 
earlier  times.  Doubtless  emigration  went  on  continuously 
during  the  interval,  but  it  is  not  till  about  the  date  of  the 
first  Olympiad  that  we  hear  for  certain  of  the  first  Hellenic 
colonies  in  the  West  and  on  the  Propontis  and  Buxine. 

The  question  arises,  what  were  the  reasons  of  this  very  large 
emigration  from  the  old  country  ?  Greece  is  not  a  fertile  land. 
**  Want  hath  ever  been  a  foster-sister  to  Hellas,"  said  the 
Spartan  Demaratus  to  King  Xerxes.  But  doubtless  also  a 
land-grabbing  aristocracy  (who  were  glad  to  get  rid  of  dis- 
contents) ,  as  well  as  the  wretched  state  of  things  that  we  have 
seen  described  by  Hesiod,  aggravated  much  the  condition 
of  the  peasant  and  the  artisan,  so  that  without  any  great 
surplus  of  population  ^  there  was  a  natural  impulse  among  the 
working  classes  to  get  away  to  freer  lands  ;  and  many  of  the 
leisured  classes  would  also  be  attracted  by  the  love  of  adventure. 
The  vast  numbers  of  emigrants  may  thus  be  partly  explained, 
and  the  huge  population  of  some  of  these  colonial  cities  was, 
of  course,  partly  due  to  a  large  native  element. 

Although  in  early  days  serious  conflicts  took  place  between 
some  of  the  colonies  and  their  mother-cities,  such  as  the  naval 
war  (c.  664)  between  Corinth  and  Corey ra  already  mentioned, 
the  general  result  of  the  expansion  of  Greece  was  to  strengthen 
immensely  Hellenic  patriotism,  if  one  may  use  these  words 
to  express  the  sense  of  the  oneness  of  the  whole  Hellenic  race — 
or  rather  of  the  whole  people  of  Greece,  including  all  its  diverse 

^  Bven  two  and  a  half  centuries  later  (430)  Athens  had  only  80,000  inhabi- 
tants, half  of  whom  were  slaves.  At  Marathon  (490)  the  Athenian  army  only 
numbered  about  9000. 

114 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

races,  and  all  its  progeny  in  other  lands — in  contradistinction  to 
the  outer  world  of  barbarians.  The  Greek  colonies  were,  as 
a  rule,  more  Greek  than  Greece  itself.  They  looked  on  the 
mother-country  with  the  deepest  affection  and  reverence. 
No  colony  was  founded  without  consulting  the  great  Greek 
oracle  at  Delphi  and  procuring  an  oekist  (founder  appointed 
by  some  Greek  mother-city) ;  and  a  flame  from  the  sacred  fire 
that  burnt  in  the  town-hall  (prytaneion)  at  home  was  carried 
abroad  in  order  to  light  the  public  hearth  in  the  new  city. 
They  took  with  them  also  the  religion  of  their  Grecian  home. 
They  sent  frequent  deputations  to  the  festivals  of  the  metro- 
polis, and  received  with  reverence  its  envoys.  The  founder 
who  had  been  supplied  by  the  city  in  Greece  was  often  wor- 
shipped after  his  death  as  a  divinity  ;  and  no  new  colony 
was  sent  forth  from  a  Greek  colony  without  obtaining  a 
founder  from  the  mother-city. 

And  for  Greece  itself  the  existence  of  her  colonies — of  this 
great  Hellenic  community  extending  over  so  much  of  the 
then  known  world — was  of  great  moment.  "  The_jiifluence 
of_Greater  Greece,"  says  the  late  Professor  Butcher,  "  is  the 
detennimngjact  iii-the  history  of  the  Hellenic  people."  Not 
only,  as  was  the  case  in  our  Elizabethan  age,  did  the  opening 
up  of  new  worlds  stir  the  imagination  and  enlarge  the  vision  of 
Greek  poets  and  deepen  the  insight  of  Greek  thinkers,  but  the 
existence  of  Greater  Hellas  had  much  influence  in  developing, 
for  good  or  for  evil,  the  imperial  policy  of  Athens  in  the  days  of 
her  power,  and  in  determining  her  fate. 

The  Euxine 
Although  they  were,  perhaps,  not  so  ancient  as  some  of  the 
:  colonies  in  the  far  West,  Greek  settlements  on  the  Kuxine  and 
i  the  Propontis  were  founded  in  very  early  times.  ^  Doubtless 
j  there  was  trade  between  the  Euxine  shores  and  the  Greek 
i  cities  of  Asia  Minor  from  early  days  of  the  first  colonization  of 
j  Aeolis  and  Ionia.  Indeed,  as  we  have  seen,  the  old  fable  of 
I  the  Argonauts  points  to  the  beginnings  of  intercourse  between 
^  The  plates  of  coins  should  be  referred  to,  and  the  explanations  in  Note  C. 

"5 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Greece  itself  and  the  Kuxine  even  before  the  Aeolian  migration. 
The  Greek  town  of  Sinope,  on  the  south  shore  of  the  Buxine, 
claimed  to  have  been  founded  by  Miletus  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighth  century.  It  was,  old  writers  say,  destroyed  by 
the  Cimmerians,  and  was  refounded  about  630.  Another 
Milesian  colony,  Trapezus  (now  Trebizond),  lay  some  400 
miles  more  to  the  east,  not  far  from  Colchis,  the  country  of 
Medea  and  the  mythical  Golden  Fleece.  Probably  even  in 
these  early  days  there  were  Grecian  marts  and  halting-places 
along  the  coasts  of  the  Propontis  and  Kuxine.  On  not  a  few 
of  these  sites  regular  settlements  were  in  course  of  time  founded 
by  various  Greek  cities.  I^ittle  Megara  especially  distinguished 
itself  by  founding  (c.  685)  Chalcedon,  on  the  Thracian  Bosporus, 
and  some  thirty  years  later  occupied  the  opposite  shore,  where, 
on  account  of  the  magnificent  site  that  it  enjoyed,  the  city  of 
Byzantium  rose  rapidly  to  importance,  and  in  later  times 
became  one  of  the  most  famous  cities  in  the  world.  Sestos 
and  I^ampsacus  (once  Phoenician)  were  settled  by  Aeolians, 
Abydos  and  Cyzicus  by  Milesians.  These  Hellespontine  towns 
owed  their  prosperity  to  the  ever-increasing  commerce  between 
the  Kuxine  and  the  Aegaean  and  Grecian  ports.  The  trade  in 
iron  and  silver  and  flax  and  other  products  from  Colchis  and 
the  country  of  the  Chalybes  and  other  lands  on  the  South 
Kuxine  was  in  course  of  time  supplemented  by  trade  with  its 
northern  shores,  where  numerous  Greek  settlements  were 
made,  such  as  Odessus  and  Olbia,  on  the  Dnieper  mouth,  and 
Panticapaeum  in  the  Tauric  Chersonese  (Crimea),  while  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Phasis — where  the  Argonauts  reached  the 
home  of  Medea — the  Greek  town  of  Phasis  arose,  and  another, 
Dioscurias,  still  closer  to  the  great  range  of  the  Caucasus. 
On  the  North  Aegaean,  too,  various  cities  were  now  founded, 
of  which  Potidaea,  a  colony  of  Corinth,  and  Methone,  a 
Kuboean  settlement,  are  of  the  most  importance  historically. 

Cyme  in  Italy 

The  western  waters  of  the  Mediterranean  were  navigated 
by  Phoenician  traders  in  very  early  times,  and  some  of  their 
116 


m 


39.  The  '  Francois  Vase  ' 

See  List  of  Illustrations 


Il6 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

settlements  preceded  the  first  Greek  settlements  in  these  parts 
by  at  least  500  years.     By  about  1350,  as  we  have  seen, 
Tarshish,  or  Tartessus,  the  Phoenician  port  in  Spain,  was  well 
known,  and  Gades  was  founded  about  1200.     Doubtless  these 
navigators  spread  the  worship  of  their  gods,  Melcarth  (the 
Phoenician  Heracles)   and  the  bull-headed  sun-god  Baal  or 
Moloch,  and  hence  we  have  the  old  Greek  legends  of  Heracles 
erecting  pillars  at  the  straits  near   Tarshish    and  capturing 
the  cattle  of    the  monster  Geryon,  and  of  the  sacred  cattle 
of  the  sun-god  Kelios,  which,  as  Homer  tells  us,  the  com- 
panions of    Odysseus  slew  in  Sicily.^      Herodotus,   indeed, 
intimates  that  a  hundred  years  and  more  before  the  days 
of  Odysseus  a  Greek  city.  Cyme  (Cumae),  existed   in  Italy, 
close  to  what  was  afterwards  known  as  I^ake  Avernus,  nor 
far  from  the  frontier  of  the  great  Etrurian  or  Tyrrhenian 
nation — those  Tyrseni  of  whom  we  heard  in  connexion  with 
the  Pelasgians,  and  whom  we  shall  meet  again  in  the  time  of 
Hiero.2    The  tradition  about  this  ancient  Greek  city  is  repeated 
by  Virgil ;  Daedalus,  he  says,  after  flying  from  Crete  to  escape 
Minos,  alighted  at  Cumae,  and  hung  up  his  wings  there  in 
Apollo's  temple.     Cyme  is  also  said  by  old  tradition  to  have 
received  Greek  settlers  from  Corsica,  where  a  still  more  ancient 
Boeotian  colony  of  the  Thespiadae  is  asserted  to  have  existed. 
Perhaps,  however,  the  first  important  colonization  of  Cyme 
by  the  Greeks  took    place  about  800.     The  colonists  were 
mainly  from  Cyme  in  Aeolis,  the  home  of  Hesiod's  father, 
and  from  Cyme  in  Buboea,  the  mother-city.    Chalcidians  and 
other  Buboeans  joined,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  a  small 
contingent  of  Graioi  from  Boeotia  gave  to  the  Italians  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cumae  the  name  which  the  natives  of  Italy 
first  applied   to    the   Hellene   race,   and  by   which  we  now 
generally  designate  it. 

*  Od.  xii.  The  seven  herds  probably  have  reference  to  the  seven  planets. 
Can  the  name  Belios  be  connected  with  El,  the  primitive  Semitic  name  of 
God — probably  the  sun-god  ? 

'  Hesiod  (if  the  passage  is  authentic)  speaks  not  only  of  Etruria,  but  of  the 
Latins  and  King  Latinus.  His  connexion  with  Aeolian  Cyme  may  explain 
his  knowledge. 

117 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Sicily 

The  Chalcidians  of  Euboea  and  the  Cymaeans  also  founded 
(735)  the  first  Greek  city  in  Sicily,  Naxos  (destroyed  in  later 
times  by  Dionysius),  and  not  long  afterwards  Catane  (now 
Catania),  I^eontini,  Zancle  (the '  sickle-harbour,'  like  Drepanon ; 
afterwards  renamed  as  Messene),  and  Himera  on  the  north 
coast  (celebrated  later  for  the  great  victory  of  Greeks  over 
Carthaginians  in  480,  perhaps  on  the  same  day  as  the  victory 
of  Salamis  ;  finally  razed  to  the  ground  by  the  Carthaginians 
in  409). 

Before  the  coming  of  the  Greeks  the  eastern  half  of  Sicily 
was  held  by  the  Sicels,  who  had  probably  crossed  from  Italy 
and  driven  the  older  inhabitants,  the  Sicans,  towards  the 
western  parts  of  the  island.  Besides  these  there  were  the 
Blymi,  whose  chief  city  was  Kgesta,  and  whom  tradition 
asserted  to  be  descendants  of  Trojans  left  there  by  Aeneas 
on  his  voyage  to  I^atium.  On  the  SiciHan  coasts  there  were 
also  numerous  Phoenician  stations,  but  no  large  settlements. 
It  was  not  until  after  the  rise  of  the  naval  and  military  power 
of  Carthage,  about  550,  that  Sicily  became  the  arena  of  the 
great  struggle  between  the  Semitic  and  Hellenic  races. 

Some  1  of  the  most  famous  of  the  Greek  cities  of  Sicily  were 
founded  by  Dorians,  mostly  in  the  south-western  corner  of  the 
island.  Of  these  cities  Syracuse,  a  colony  of  Corinth,  was  the 
oldest,  and  in  the  same  year  (734)  Corcyra  (Corfu)  was  also 
colonized  by  the  Corinthians. ^  The  small  state  of  Megara, 
which  showed  such  vigour  on  the  Kuxine,  placed  a  Hyblaean 
Megara  on  the  coast  north  of  Syracuse,  and  a  century  later 
this  settlement,  with  the  aid  of  the  mother-city,  founded  on  the 
south-western  coast  the  city  of  Selinus,  famed  for  its  majestic 
temples,  all  built  in  the  two  centuries  of  its  existence  before 
its  utter  destruction  by  the  Carthaginian  Hannibal  at  the  same 

1  Our  main  authority  is  here  Thucydides  (Book  VI). 

2  Both  sites  had  already  been  occupied  by  Buboeans,  who  were  expelled. 
Corcyra  never  became  of  much  importance,  and  after  the  Peloponnesian  War 
dwindled  to  almost  nothing,  while  Syracuse  at  its  prime  occupied  a  larger  space 
than  Rome  under  the  Empire.  Its  walls  were  about  fifteen  miles  in  length, 
those  of  Rome  about  twelve.     But  Rome's  population  was  greater  by  far. 

118 


< 

o 

< 

Q 

cc 

o 

2 
< 

CD 

O) 

< 

CD 
< 

ANCIENT   GREECE 

time  as  Himera  (409) .  The  remains  of  these  temples  and  of  the 
acropolis  form  probably  the  greatest  mass  of  ruins  in  Europe,  and 
the  metopes  of  the  temples  afford  some  of  the  oldest  and  most 
interesting  specimens  of  Greek  sculpture  (see  Fig.  60).  The 
name  of  SeHnus  is  probably  of  Phoenician  origin,  but  the  word 
selinon  means  *  wild  celery  '  in  Greek,  and  that  the  Selinuntines 
accepted  this  meaning  is  proved  by  their  coins,  on  which  the 
plant  is  depicted  (see  Plate  IV,  5).  Possibly  Homer's  descrip- 
tion of  Calypso's  isle  with  its  "  meadows  of  violets  and  celery  " 
may  have  favoured  the  interpretation. 

About  688  Gela,  a  Sicel  town  overlooking  the  southern  sea, 
was  occupied  by  Greek  Rhodians  and  Cretans.  It  became  later 
a  city  of  importance,  and  is  famous  as  the  home  of  the  great 
Syracusan  princes  Gelo  and  Hiero,  and  as  the  death-place 
of  Aeschylus.  In  581  Gela  founded,  with  an  oekist  from  Rhodes, 
the  city  of  Acragas  (Agrigentum,  and  now  Girgenti),  about 
fifty  miles  distant  towards  the  west,  on  a  lofty  site  not  far  from 
the  sea.  Acragas,  the  city  of  the  notorious  tyrant  Phalaris 
and  of  Thero,  who  shared  with  Gelo  the  victory  of  Himera, 
became  a  city  of  vast  population  and  wealth,  as  was  testified 
by  the  line  of  magnificent  temples  on  its  southern  front,  some 
of  which  are  still  standing  (see  Fig.  76).  The  greatest  of 
these,  the  Olympieion,  now  a  wilderness  of  ruin,  was  the 
vastest  of  all  Greek  temples. 

The  Greeks  did  not  try  to  colonize  the  west  of  Sicily.^  Here 
Egesta  (or  Segesta),  the  city  of  the  Elymi,  held  sway  in  alhance 
with  Phoenicians,  whose  settlements  at  Panormus  (Palermo) 
and  on  the  island  Motya  gradually  developed  into  important 
towns.  The  people  of  Motya  were  afterwards  (397)  trans- 
ferred by  the  Carthaginians  to  the  great  Punic  city  of  I/ily- 
baeum,  on  the  neighbouring  mainland.  At  the  north-west 
corner  of  Sicily,  on  Mount  Eryx,  overlooking  the  sea,  stood  a 
famous  temple  dedicated  to  a  goddess,  called  Aphrodite  by 
the  Greeks  and  Venus  Erycina  by  the  Romans — evidently 
either  a  Phoenician  Astarte  or  some  Elymi  an  (Phrygian  ?) 
Nature-goddess. 

*  But  see  Greek  temple.  Fig.  57. 
120 


40.  Lacinian  Cape  and  Coi^umn 


m 


41.  Poskidon's  Tempi^e,  Paestum 


I 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

'H  /ULeydXrt  "EXXay— MagnA  GrAECIA 

We  must  now  return  to  Italy.  Here  by  the  middle  of  the 
seventh  century  we  find  some  fifteen  flourishing  Greek  cities 
occupying  almost  the  whole  of  the  line  of  the  southern  coasts 
from  Brundisium  to  Cumae ;  and  by  about  550  their  number 
will  have  increased  to  twenty  or  more,  some  of  them  greater 
than  any  city  in  the  mother-country.  The  earliest  of  these  was 
founded  in  721  by  Achaeans  from  the  Peloponnese,  who  seem 
to  have  found  their  harbourless  and  rugged  country,  with 
its  twelve  obscure  townships,  both  unattractive  and  over- 
populated,  and  to  have  made  settlements  first  in  the  island 
Zacynthus,  and  then  to  have  made  their  way  across  to  Italy, 
as  the  south-western  extremity  of  the  Hesperian  peninsula  was 
already  called. 

Here,  just  within  the  great  gulf,  they  founded  Sybaris,  on  an 
alluvial  plain  between  the  rivers  Sybaris  and  Crathis,  and  some 
eighteen  years  later  they  planted  Croton  on  a  fine  harbour, 
near  to  the  Ivacinian  promontory,  where  still  stands  a  solitary 
column  of  the  great  temple  of  Hera  which  for  ages  greeted  the 
Greek  as  he  came  from  the  motherland  to  Greater  Hellas, 
and  where  he  was  wont  to  sacrifice  and  offer  gifts  before  he 
sailed  further  (see  Fig.  40).  Both  of  these  settlements 
became  at  an  early  era  very  great  and  powerful  cities  and  the 
mothers  of  many  other  Greek  towns.  Sybaris  is  said  to  have 
possessed  twenty-five  such  dependencies  and  to  have  ruled 
over  four  of  the  native  peoples.  It  became  a  great  trade 
emporium,  and  in  order  to  extend  its  commerce  by  land-routes 
to  Btruria  and  the  far  West  it  founded  on  the  Tyrrhene  Sea  the 

;  cities  of  I^aos  and  Scidros  and  that  of  Poseidonia  (Paestum), 
whose  magnificent  Doric  temples  are  still  standing  almost  intact 
(Fig.  41).     The  wealth  and  luxury  of  Sybaris  are  proverbial. 

i  Its  army  is  said  to  have  numbered  300,000  (perhaps  mainly 
native  troops),  and  the  circuit  of  its  walls  to  have  rivalled 
that  of  Syracuse.  But  even  in  the  days  of  Herodotus  Sybaris 
was  only  a  memory,  for  in  510  it  was  utterly  destroyed  by  its 
rival  Croton,  as  we  shall  see  later  when  we  come  to  the  life 

121 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

of  Pythagoras.  On  the  western  coast  also  Croton  planted 
various  towns,  of  which  Terina  was  one  (see  coin  13  on 
Plate  III).  Another  was  on  the  site  of  the  old  Ausonian  port 
Temesa  (or  Tempsa),  perhaps  mentioned  in  the  Odyssey  as  an 
export-mart  for  bronze.  ^ 

Another  great  Greek  city  was  Taras,  or  Tarentum,  situate 
in  lapygian  territory  at  the  head  of  the  great  gulf  which  still 
bears  its  name.  It  is  said  to  have  been  originally  a  Cretan 
settlement,  but  about  708  it  was  occupied  by  Spartans.  Taras 
was  the  only  colony  ever  founded  by  Sparta,  and  tradition 
accounts  for  its  foundation  by  a  strange  story,  perhaps  invented 
to  explain  the  word  Partheniae  ('  The  Maidens'  Children '),  who 
are  said  to  have  been  its  first  settlers,  for  it  was  related  that  on 
their  return  from  a  very  long  campaign  against  the  Messenians 
the  Spartans  found  a  large  number  of  illegitimate  youths, 
and  that  these,  after  an  attempted  rebellion,  were  dispatched 
to  the  far  West  under  the  leadership  of  a  certain  Phalanthus. 
This  Phalanthus  was  afterwards  worshipped  as  the  son  of 
Poseidon,  and  was  represented  on  Tarentine  coins  astride  a 
dolphin  (see  Plate  II,  3).  Taras  became  renowned  for  its 
industrial  products — its  wool  and  pottery  and  dyes — but  is 
historically  connected  more  with  Rome  than  Greece,  although 
for  a  long  period,  after  the  fall  of  Sybaris,  it  was  perhaps  the 
most  powerful  and  wealthy  of  all  the  cities  of  Greater  Hellas. 

Two  other  Greek  cities,  Metapontion  and  Siris,  stood  on  the 
shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Tarentum,  between  Tarentum  and 
Sybaris.  The  former  was  founded  by  Sybaris  with  the  aid 
of  the  Peloponnesian  Achaeans,  Siris  by  the  Ionian  city 
Colophon.2  No  other  city  of  Ionia  attempted  to  found  a 
colony  during  this  age  in  the  West ;  but  the  Aeolians  were 
more  venturesome,  for  Phocaea,  which  had  already  the 
important  settlement  of  lyampsacus  on  the  Propontis,  about 
600  planted  a  colony  at  Massalia  (Marseille),  near  the  delta 
of  the  Rhone — the  westernmost  of  all  Greek  cities,  except  its 
own  later  settlements  in  Spain.     The  Phocaeans  also  had 

^  If  so,  this  {Od.  i.  184)  is  the  earliest  mention  of  any  Italian  town. 

*  The  poet  Archilochus  {c.  650)  writes  of  Siris  as  if  it  were  known  to  him. 

122 


r 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

settlements  in  Corsica,  where  about  565  (according  to  Hero- 
dotus) they  founded  a  city  called  Alalia.  Some  twenty  years 
later,  as  we  shall  see,  in  order  to  escape  from  the  Persians, 
almost  the  whole  population  of  Phocaea  took  ship  for  Alalia, 
but  being  expelled  from  Corsica  by  the  Carthaginians  and 
Etruscans  they  fled  to  Rhegium  and  thence  founded  Elea 
(Velia),  on  the  west  Italian  coast,  to  the  south  of  Poseidonia. 
It  is  possible  that  Xenophanes  of  Colophon  may  have  fled 
to  Siris  from  Asia  to  escape  the  Persians,  and  may  have  joined 
the  Phocaean  fugitives  at  Rhegium  and  have  been  among  the 
first  colonists  of  the  city,  whose  name  owes  its  survival  mainly 
to  the  fame  of  the  school  of  philosophy  that  he  founded  there. 
Among  the  more  important  Greek  colonies  of  this  age  must 
be  mentioned  Cyrene,  in  North  Africa  ;  but  as  its  foundation 
(c.  630)  is  connected  with  the  opening  up  of  Egypt  to  Greek  com- 
merce it  will  be  described  later  when  we  consider  that  subject. 

The  Homeland  :  Corinth 

The  Greeks  calculated  all  their  dates  from  the  victory  of 
Coroebus  in  the  foot-race  at  the  Olympic  Games  (revived,  it 
is  said,  by  I^ycurgus  and  Iphitus)  in  the  year  that  we  call 
776  B.C.  They  regarded  this  as  the  beginning  of  the  historical 
period  ;  but  there  is  very  little  known  for  certain  about 
Greece — less,  perhaps,  than  we  know  about  the  Greek  colonies 
— during  the  first  century  of  this  epoch. 

It  is  evident  that  about  the  eighth  century  Corinth  was 
a  great  mercantile  and  maritime  power.  With  her  newly 
invented  triremes  and  her  great  trading  vessels  she  dominated 
two  seas.  She  had  founded  Syracuse  and  colonized  Corcyra, 
which  colony  had  become  strong  enough  by  664  to  oppose 
her  mother-city  in  the  first  sea-fight  known  to  Thucydides. 

^RGOS 

In  the  Peloponnese,  while  Sparta  was  engaged  in  long  warfare 
with  the  Messenians  and  at  times  holding  her  own  with  diffi- 
:ulty,  Argos  seems  to  have  been  a  leading  state.  In  668  the 
\rgives,  it  is  said,  defeated  the  Spartans  at  Hysiae.     They 

123 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
captured  Mycenae  and  Tiryns,  overran  Aegina,  and,  perhaps, 
held  for  some  time  all  the  eastern  coast  of  I^aconia  and  even 
the  island  of  Cythera  (see  Hdt.  i.  82).  Corinth,  too,  is  said  to 
have  fallen  for  a  time  into  their  hands.  The  successes  of  Argos 
at  this  era  are  attributed  to  the  famous  Argive  king  Pheidon, 
who  (as  we  shall  see  later)  reinstated  the  people  of  Pisa  in  the 
management  of  the  Olympic  Games  and  instituted  himself 
as  president,  claiming  the  right  through  his  ancestor  Heracles. 
His  date  is,  however,  very  uncertain.  ^  To  him  is  also  attributed 
the  introduction  of  systematic  weights  and  measures,  as 
standards  for  which  he  deposited  bars  of  metal  in  the  great 
temple  of  Argive  Hera.  The  first  homeland  Greek  coins 
were  struck  in  Aegina,  probably  in  Pheidon's  reign  and  after 
Pheidonian  standards. 

The  Argive  hegemony  in  the  Peloponnese  seems  to  have 
decHned  rapidly  after  the  reign  of  Pheidon,  a  fact  evidently 
due  to  the  rise  of  the  Spartan  power.  According  to  tradition, 
Pheidon's  interference  at  Olympia  roused  the  wrath  of  the 
Spartans,  who  reinstated  the  Eleans  and  expelled  the  Argives. 

Sparta 

Sparta  during  the  first  century  of  the  historical  period, 
as  we  have  seen,  took  but  little  share  in  colonization,  and  her 
one  colony,  Taras,  is  said  to  have  originated  from  her  political 
difficulties.  During  these  years  she  was  mainly  engaged  in 
fighting  the  Messenians — those  western  neighbours  of  hers 
who,  after  a  hundred  years  of  warfare,  submitted  (those  who 
remained  in  Messenia)  to  be  treated  almost  as  slaves  for  two 
centuries,  and  then,  having  rebelled,  were  ejected  (in  464) 
from  their  homeland,  and  finally,  a  century  later,  were  restored 
by  Epameinondas,  never  again  to  be  conquered  by  their  old 
enemies,  but  to  become  the  subjects  of  Rome. 

These  Messenians  inhabited  the  south-western  corner  of 

^  Alexander  the  Great,  to  prove  his  right  to  compete  at  Olympia,  claimed 
descent  from  Pheidon.  Pausanias  (a.d.  160)  asserts  that  Pheidon  presided 
at  the  eighth  Olympiad  (748),  but  Herodotus  says  that  Pheidon's  son  was  a 
suitor  for  Agarista,  which  would  make  his  date  about  620,  and  his  father's 
about  660. 

124 


THE    AGE    OF   COLONIZATION 

the  Peloponnese/  cut  off  from  the  Spartan  valley  of  the 
Eurotas  by  the  great  range  of  Mount  Taygetus.  Their  land 
consisted  of  the  fertile  plain  of  Stenyclarus,  through  which  the 
river  Pamisus  flows  ;  and  to  the  west  is  a  mountainous  district 
in  which  the  strong  fortress  of  Ithome  was  built,  overlooking 
the  plain  across  which  Homer  describes  Telemachus  driving 
on  his  journey  from  Pylos  to  Pherae  and  Sparta. 

The  first  Dorian  chiefs,  who,  in  order  to  justify  their  over- 
lordship,  claimed  descent  from  Heracles,  seem  to  have  resided 
at  Stenyclarus,  on  the  northern  stream  of  the  Pamisus,  and 
never  to  have  conquered  the  southern  district  of  Pylos.  The 
number  of  these  Dorians  was  evidently  small,  and  in  course 
of  time  the  dominant  race  may  have  been  very  considerably 
merged  in  the  native  Messenian  people.  This  may  partly 
explain  the  treatment  these  rebellious  half-castes  received — as 
severe  as  that  accorded  to  revolted  Helots — at  the  hands  of 
the  pure-bred  Dorian  Spartiates. 

Of  the  origin  and  the  events  of  the  first  Messenian  war 
(traditional  date  743-724)  many  picturesque  legends  survive, 
handed  down  by  writers  who  lived  much  later,  but  who  may 
have  collected  the  traditions  from  the  Messenians  restored 
to  their  country  by  Kpameinondas  (370).  These  legends  tell 
of  a  Messenian  hero,  Aristodemus,  who  determined  to  sacrifice 
his  own  daughter  to  save  his  country,  then  slew  her  in  anger, 
and  slew  himself  afterwards  on  her  tomb.  They  tell  of  a 
Spartan  king,  Theopompus,  who,  after  many  battles,  in  the 
twentieth  year  of  the  war  captured  and  razed  Ithome  and 
reduced  all  the  Messenians  who  did  not  leave  their  country 
to  the  same  level  of  serfdom  as  that  of  the  Helots. 

After  about  forty  years  the  Messenians  again  rebelled,  and  a 
second  war  of  nearly  equal  length  took  place  (traditional  date 
685-668) .  In  the  first  war  some  of  the  other  Peloponnesian 
states  had  taken  a  part,  and  on  the  outbreak  of  hostilities 
Corinth  again  sent  aid  to  Sparta,  while  on  the  side  of  the 
Messenians  were  the  Argives,  Arcadians,  Sicyonians,  and  the 

*  Homer  mentions  Messene,  the  district  of  Pherae,  and  its  ruler  Orsilochus. 
The  city  of  Messene  was  first  built  by  Kpameinondas. 

125 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
people  of  Pisa.  The  hero  of  this  war  was  Aristomenes,  under 
whose  leadership  the  Messenians  inflicted  such  defeats  on  the 
Spartans  that  they  sent  to  the  Delphic  oracle  for  advice. 
This  bade  them  apply  to  Athens  for  a  leader.  The  Athenians, 
it  is  said,  sent  them  in  disdain  a  lame  schoolmaster,  Tyrtaeus, 
and  this  man  by  his  martial  songs  so  aroused  the  courage  of 
the  Spartans  that,  although  they  were  defeated  in  a  great 
battle  by  the  Boar's  Grave,  on  the  plain  of  Stenyclarus,  they 
again  renewed  the  contest,  and  besieged  the  Messenians, 
it  is  said,  for  eleven  years  in  their  new  mountain  stronghold, 
Eira.  During  this  siege  Aristomenes  performed  many  prodigies 
of  valour,  and  was  several  times  taken  prisoner  ;  but  he  always 
managed  to  escape — once,  it  is  said,  even  from  the  great  pit 
Caiadas  in  Sparta,  into  which  the  Spartans  used  to  cast  their 
criminals.  This  feat  he  performed  by  grasping  the  tail  of  a 
fox,  which,  struggling  to  get  free,  showed  him  the  underground 
aperture  by  which  it  had  entered.  But  no  heroism  could 
save  the  Messenians.  Kira  was  captured.  Many  escaped  to 
Arcadia  or  to  Rhegium  and  other  places  over  the  sea  ;  the  rest 
were  again  enslaved.  Aristomenes  is  said  to  have  gone  to 
Rhodes,  and  to  have  died  there. 

Fragments  of  the  songs  of  Tyrtaeus  exist,  and  I  shall  speak 
of  them  later.  They  mention  some  of  the  events  of  this  second 
Messenian  war  ;  but  they  do  not  name  Aristomenes.  The 
songs  were,  says  Athenaeus,  chanted  by  a  single  voice  to 
the  accompaniment  of  the  flute.  They  consisted  in  spirited 
appeals  to  the  Spartans  to  show  courage  in  battle  and  to 
maintain  law  and  order  (eunomia)  at  home.  It  should  perhaps 
be  added  that  some  modern  writers  regard  Tyrtaeus  as  a 
Spartan  and  the  story  of  his  origin  as  an  Athenian  invention. 

Tyrants  (Ionia  :  Corinth  :  Megara  :  Sicyon) 

While  Sparta  was  thus  laying  the  foundations  of  her  future 
supremacy  very  important  changes  had  been  taking  place 
in  other  cities  of  Greece.  We  have  already  seen  how  the  old 
hereditary  monarchies  of  Homeric  days  had  in  many  cases 
given  place  to  constitutions  which  were  aristocracies  in  form 
126 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

but  which  contained  within  them  a  strong  tendency  towards 
democracy — a  tendency  that  even  under  the  permanent 
monarchical  system  of  the  Spartan  state  manifested  itself 
in  the  creation  of  the  popular  magistracy  of  the  ephors.  We 
have  also  noticed  the  growing  demand  for  constituted  law 
and  the  adoption  by  Sparta  of  a  code  possibly  founded  to  some 
extent  on  the  laws  of  Crete  and  other  ancient  nations.  Besides 
the  half -mythical  lyycurgus  we  hear  of  the  shepherd  Zaleucus, 
who  (about  664)  was  authorized  by  the  Delphic  oracle  to  devise 
a  constitution  for  the  Italian  lyocrians,  and  slew  himself  for 
having  unwittingly  transgressed  one  of  his  own  laws ;  and  of 
Charondas,  who  gave  a  code  to  Sicihan  Catane  ;  and  ere  long 
we  shall  hear  of  the  Athenian  lawgivers  Dracon  and  Solon. 
The  cry  for  justice — for  equality  before  the  law — uttered  by 
Hesiod  was  making  itself  heard.  And  the  great  increase  of 
the  trading  and  labouring  classes  began  to  give  them  a  con- 
sciousness of  power  and  the  desire  for  self-government.  More- 
over, the  introduction  of  a  new  method  in  warfare  helped 
greatly  towards  these  ends.  Instead  of  a  Homeric  Achilles 
or  a  Messenian  Aristomenes  we  have  serried  ranks  of  mailed 
hopHtes,  and  it  is  on  these  infantry-spearmen,  drawn  from 
the  poorer  classes,  rather  than  on  the  high-born  hippeis 
(knights),  that  the  hope  of  victory  now  depends. 

But  the  struggle  of  the  people  for  self-government  was  long 
and  difficult.  In  not  a  few  cases  it  led  to  nothing  but  frequent 
and  violent  changes  of  constitution,  which  proved  perhaps 
more  disastrous  than  a  permanent  absolutism  would  have 
been.  In  others  its  first  result  was  a  relapse — or  perhaps  we 
may  regard  it  as  an  advance  towards  democracy  through  a 
necessary  phase.  Aristocracy  was  exchanged  for  tyranny. 
The  process  has  already  been  described.  Feuds  (such  as  arose 
in  mediaeval  Florence)  disunited  the  aristocratic  party,  and 
some  ambitious  noble  would  invoke  the  aid  of  the  people 
against  his  rivals  and  succeed  in  establishing  himself  as 
'  tyrant ' — that  is,    as   an   unconstitutional   despot.  ^     Greek 

*  The  word  tyrannos  (possibly  a   Doric  form  of  koiranos,  a  ruler,  and  con- 
nected with  the  common  word  kurios,  lord,  or  perhaps  an  Asiatic  word)  had 

127 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
*  tyrannies  *  seem  to  have  first  arisen  in  Ionia.    About  620  we 
hear  of  a  tyrant  of  Bphesus  marrying  the  daughter  of  Alyattes, 
the  king  of  I^ydia,  and  about  the  same  time  Miletus  flourished 
exceedingly  under  the  tyrant  Thrasybulus. 

lyesbos,  on  the  other  hand,  evidently  suffered  long  and 
severely  from  its  aristocrats  and  despots,  being  oppressed 
first  by  the  oligarchy  of  the  Penthelids  and  then  by  tyrants. 
The  last  tyrant  seems  to  have  been  expelled  from  Mytilene 
by  the  people  under  the  leadership  of  Pittacus  and  the  brothers 
of  the  poet  Alcaeus,  of  both  of  whom  we  shall  learn  more 
when  we  turn  to  the  poets  and  sages  of  this  era.  Pittacus 
had  distinguished  himself  in  war  against  Athens,  and  had  won 
the  confidence  of  the  people.  He  was  elected  absolute  dictator 
(aisymnetes)  of  Mytilene  for  ten  years,  during  which  time  he 
governed  with  such  wisdom  as  to  render  possible  the  return  of 
the  exiled  nobles,  among  whom  was  the  poet  Alcaeus  himself. 

Of  the  wealth  and  splendour  of  the  Ionian  cities  during 
this  age  of  despots,  both  on  the  mainland  of  Asia  and  on  the 
Aegaean  islands,  there  is  evidence  enough,  although  we  know 
almost  nothing  about  their  history.  In  the  so-called  Homeric 
Hymn  to  Apollo  (perhaps  dating  from  about  600)  a  fine  de- 
scription is  given  of  the  magnificence  of  the  great  festival  on 
the  island  Delos,  which  was  the  religious  centre  of  the  Ionic 
world  until  the  Asiatic  lonians  instituted  their  festivals  at  the 
temple  of  Kphesus. 

Indeed,  at  this  time  Ionia  was  apparently  far  in  advance  of  the 
homeland  in  many  civihzed  arts,  and  during  the  age  of  Solon  and 
Peisistratus  Athens  adopted  largely  Ionian  luxury  and  Ionian 
dress — that  soft  linen  raiment  and  those  golden  cicalas,  worn 
even  by  men  as  hair  ornaments,  of  which  Thucydides  speaks 
somewhat  contemptuously.  And  probably  surpassing  Athens 
itself  in  Ionian  splendour  were  the  Kuboean  cities  of  Bretria 
and  Chalcis,  of  which  we  have  already  heard  as  the  mothers  of 
colonies.     But  they  exhausted  themselves  in  a  conflict  for 

no  moral  significance.     It  merely  signified  that  the  ruler  had  no  hereditary  or' 
constitutional  claim.     It  was  perhaps  first  used  by  the  Greeks  with  reference 
to  the  I^ydian  kings   (see  Archilochus,  frag.  21).     The  king  of  Persia  was 
always  Basileus. 
128 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

the  possession  of  the  fertile  I^elantine  plain.  So  long  and 
embittered  was  this  war  that,  if  we  believe  Thucydides,  almost 
all  Greece  (as  well  as  Miletus  and  Samos)  took  part  in  it. 
These  Buboean  cities  declined  rapidly  in  importance.  Chalcis 
was  crushed  by  Athens,  and  the  Eretrians  were  carried  away 
to  Persia  by  Darius. 

In  the  homeland  several  important  cities  during  this  era 
(660-560)  fell  under  tyrannies.  Those  of  Corinth,  Megara, 
and  Sicyon  are  of  special  interest. 

At  Corinth  the  monarchy  of  the  Heracleid  kings  had  long  ago, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  given  way  to  the  oligarchy  of  the 
noble,  or  royal,  family  of  the  Bacchiadae.  This  oligarchy 
was  overthrown  (c.  655)  by  Cypselus,  about  whose  birth 
Herodotus  relates  a  curious  old  story.  The  mother,  it  was  said, 
belonged  to  the  Bacchiad  family,  but  she  was  lame,  and  was 
given  in  marriage  to  Action,  who  was  poor  but  of  the  noble  house 
of  the  I^apithae.  An  oracle  had  declared  that  their  son  would 
prove  [a  rock  to  fall  on  Corinth  and  crush  lawless  power,  and 
the  oligarchs  sent  men  to  murder  the  child  ;  but  (as  in  the 
*  Babes  in  the  Wood  ')  the  murderers  were  overcome  by  pity, 
and  while  they  hesitated  the  mother,  I^abda,  hid  her  infant 
in  a  cypsele — either  a  corn-bin  or  a  great  jar  (tt/^o?),  such  as 
the  one  depicted  in  Fig.  20 — and  thus  saved  him.  So  he 
very  naturally  received  the  name  Cypselus.  The  story  is, 
perhaps,  scarcely  worth  repeating  except  as  an  example  of  the 
kind  of  myth  that  higher  criticism  rejects  as  being  evolved  in 
explanation  of  a  name  ;  but  it  is  also  interesting  because  this 
chest  or  jar  connects  itself,  as  we  shall  see  later,  with  the 
celebrated '  chest  of  Cypselus' — perhaps  the  earliest  Greek  work 
of  art  (besides  the  Shield  of  Achilles  and  that  of  Heracles  !)  of 
which  we  have  a  detailed  description. 

It  was  probably  before,  possibly  during,  the  reign  of 
Cypselus  that  the  naval  battle  between  Corinth  and  Corcyra 
took  place  which  has  been  mentioned.  Corinth  evidently 
gained  the  victory,  for  while  Cypselus  and  his  son  Periander 
held  power  this  city  seems  to  have  developed  on  the  north- 
western coast  of  Greece  a  considerable  colonial  empire,  including 

I  129 


1 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Anactorium,  Ambracia,  ApoUonia,  and  lyeucas — which  in  the 
Homeric  age  was  a  peninsula  (Nericon,  the  kingdom  of  lyaertes), 
but  was  now  converted  into  an  island  by  a  channel  cut  through 
its  isthmus.  It  was  also  evidently  at  this  time  that  Corcyra, 
with  an  oekist  of  Heracleid  descent  from  the  mother-city, 
Corinth,  founded  that  city  of  Bpidamnus  which,  according  to 
Thucydides,  was  the  first  cause  of  open  hostilities  in  the 
Peloponnesian  War. 

The  son  of  Cypselus,  Periander,  could  claim  at  least  the 
shadow  of  hereditary  right,  but  he  seems  to  have  found  it 
necessary  to  protect  himself  by  means  of  a  strong  bodyguard  of 
mercenaries  and  by  forcibly  ridding  himself  of  troublesome 
nobles.  In  this  connexion  Herodotus  tells  almost  exactly  the 
same  story  that  is  told  by  lyivy  about  Tarquin.  Periander  sent 
for  advice  to  Thrasybulus,  tyrant  of  Miletus,  who  said  nothing 
to  the  messenger,  but  led  him  through  a  field  of  corn  and 
"  broke  off  and  threw  away,  as  he  went,  all  such  ears  of  corn 
as  overtopped  the  rest.''  Aristotle  and  other  writers  confirm 
the  description  of  Periander  given  by  Herodotus.  Together 
with  Thrasybulus,  he  is  said  to  have  drawn  up  a  regular  code 
of  '  sanguinary  maxims,'  as  Grote  calls  them,  of  a  Machia- 
vellian nature.  He  is  described  by  Herodotus  as  at  first 
"  milder  than  his  father,"  but  afterwards  a  bloodthirsty  despot ; 
and  revolting  stories  are  recounted  of  his  private  life  (including 
the  murder  of  his  wife,  MeHssa,  and  his  quarrel  with  his  son, 
whom  he  outlawed  and  banished  to  Corcyra) .  So  hated  was 
the  tyrant  by  all  that  when,  in  old  age,  he  proposed  that  his  son 
should  return  and  take  his  place  at  Corinth,  and  that  he  himself 
should  come  to  Corcyra,  the  Corcyraeans,  in  their  terror  at 
the  prospect,  put  the  son  to  death — ^for  which  deed  Periander 
took  on  them  a  terrible  vengeance.^ 

This  is  one  view.  Others  laud  Periander  as  a  wise  and  just 
though  a  severe  ruler,  and  explain  away  the  alleged  acts  of 
cruelty  and  oppression  as  wholesome  sumptuary  legislation.  His 

^  See  Hdt.  iii.  48-53,  v.  92.   The  story  of  the  300  Corcyraean  youths  whom 
Periander  vseized  and  attempted  to  send  to  Alyattes  of  I^ydia  is  told  with 
great  detail  by  Herodotus  and  bears  the  stamp  of  truth. 
130 


42.  Apoi^iyO's  Tempi^e:,  Corinth 


43.  Site  of  Corinth  and  the  Acrocorint'hus 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

wisdom  was,  indeed,  so  famed  in  some  quarters  that  his  name  is 
found  in  some  lists  of  the  Seven  Sages.  That  Corinth  rose  to 
great  prosperity  under  his  rule  is  undeniable,  and  it  is  more 
than  possible  that  the  immense  increase  of  wealth  and  luxury- 
made  repressive  measures  necessary.  Of  wealth  and  magni- 
ficence an  evident  proof  is  what  we  hear  of  a  colossal  golden 
statue  of  Zeus  and  the  famous  chest  of  Cypselus,  two  of  many 
splendid  offerings  made  to  Olympia  by  the  Cypselid  family. 
At  Delphi,  too,  the  treasure-house  of  the  Corinthians  was  built, 
it  is  said,  by  Cypselus ;  and  there  still  exists  at  Corinth  a 
relic  of  the  age,  perhaps  of  the  reign,  of  Periander — seven  great 
columns  of  what  was  once  a  mighty  Doric  temple  sacred  to 
Apollo  (Fig.  42).  lyike  others  of  the  Greek  tyrants,  Periander 
seems  to  have  been  a  patron  not  only  of  sculpture  and  archi- 
tecture, but  also  of  music  and  poetry,  for  Arion,  the  Jonah- 
like story  of  whose  escape  (on  the  back  of  a  dolphin)  when 
cast  into  the  sea  seems  to  belong  to  the  region  of  myths, 
was  doubtless  a  minstrel  at  the  Corinthian  court.  ^  Corinth, 
with  its  two  seas,  had  fleets  on  both  sides  of  the  Isthmus, 
and  was  in  touch  not  only  with  the  Adriatic,  Great  Hellas, 
Sicily,  and  the  far  West,  not  only  with  the  Euxine  and  with 
Miletus  and  Rhodes  and  Cyprus,  but  also  with  the  newly 
founded  Cyrene  and  with  Egypt,  in  this  age  first  opened  up  to 
Greek  trade.  The  reign  of  Periander  (625-585)  was  contem- 
porary with  the  last  years  of  Psamtik  I,  who  liberated  Kgypt 
from  Assyria,  and  the  reigns  of  the  famous  Pharaoh  Necho 
and  his  son  Psamtik  II.  It  is  an  interesting  proof  of  the 
tyrant's  close  connexion  with  Egypt  that  the  nephew  who 
succeeded  him  bore  the  name  Psammetichus. 

Megara,  of  whose  adventurous  spirit  and  maritime  power 
we  have  already  had  remarkable  evidence  in  the  foundation 
of  Byzantium  and  Selinus,  seems  to  have  suffered  as  much  as 
any  Greek  city  from  a  despotic  aristocracy.  At  last,  possibly 
with  the  help  of  the  Corinthian  Cypselus,  a  certain  Theagenes 
estabHshed  himself  as  tyrant  (c.  630)  by  adopting  the  usual 
method  of  obtaining  permission  to  form  a  bodyguard  and  then 

^  For  Arion  see  Index. 

131 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
exterminating  political  rivals.  After  a  reign  of  about  twenty 
years  his  power  was  overthrown,  and  Megara  became  for  a 
long  time  the  arena  of  fierce  conflicts  between  the  popular 
and  aristocratic  parties,  of  which  what  little  is  known  reminds 
one  by  its  intensely  bitter  personal  feeling  of  the  old  Florentine 
feuds  rather  than  of  political  and  social  upheavals  such  as  the 
Secession  of  the  Plebs.  Again  and  again  the  nobles  were 
expelled  and  the  popular  party  sated  their  lust  for  vengeance 
by  confiscating  property,  cancelling  the  debts  of  the  poor, 
and  demanding  even  repayment  of  the  interest ;  again  and 
again  the  nobles  returned,  and  finally  established  themselves 
firmly  in  power.  It  is  of  these  troubled  times  that  the  poet 
Theognis  sings.     I  shall  speak  of  his  poems  later. 

Sicyon,  whose  small  territory  lay  not  far  to  the  west  of 
Corinth  and  was  under  Dorian  oligarchs  in  early  times, 
seems  to  have  been  ruled  by  tyrants  of  Ionian  blood  from  the 
days  of  the  second  Messenian  war.  Of  these  only  Cleisthenes 
is  known  to  history,  and  that  mainly  on  account  of  his  connexion 
with  Athens  ;  for  his  daughter  Agarista,  of  whose  wooing  and 
wedding  Herodotus  (vi.  126  sq.)  gives  us  such  a  graphic  and 
humorous  account,  was  the  wife  of  Megacles,  and  mother  of 
the  Athenian  reformer  Cleisthenes.  The  Sicyonian  tyrant, 
it  is  said,  in  his  hatred  of  all  things  Dorian  and  Argive,  forbade 
at  Sicyon  the  recitation  of  Homer,  who  glorifies  Argos  and 
the  Argives,  and  changed  the  names  of  the  three  Doric  tribes 
in  Sicyon  into  names  meaning  swine,  asses,  and  pigs. 

The  Sages 

In  the  later  period  of  the  age  which  we  are  considering  is 
found  the  first  distinct  evidence  of  that  philosopliical  thought, 
that  earnest  search  after  truth,  which  is  one  of  the  noblest 
characteristics  of  Greek  civilization.  Before  the  days  of 
Socrates  Greek  thought  was  directed  more  towards  the  solution 
of  physical  than  metaphysical  problems.  The  so-called  Ionic 
philosophers  propounded  theories  of  wonderful  boldness  and 
penetration  on  the  origin  and  constitution  of  the  material 
universe,  which  formed  as  it  were  stepping-stones  to  doctrines 
132 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

on  the  nature  of  the  soul  and  of  deity.  But  even  before  these 
Ionic  philosophers  and  others,  whom  I  shall  consider  at  the 
end  of  the  age  of  Peisistratus,  we  find  signs  of  deep  reflexion 
on  ethical  questions,  on  questions  of  right  and  wrong,  on  the 
moral  sense  as  a  guide  to  action,  on  virtue  and  vice,  justice  and 
injustice. 

Many  such  reflexions,  revealing  the  deep,  fundamental  beliefs 
of  the  human  heart,  we  find  in  Homer — though  not  stated 
didactically — and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  cry  for  justice  is  loud 
in  Hesiod.  Of  course  these  beliefs  exist  in  every  age  ;  but  it  is 
not  till  towards  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  that  we  find 
them  expressed  by  Greek  thinkers  and  men  of  action,  and  the 
form  of  expression  is  either  the  sententious  and  passionate 
verse  of  the  so-called  gnomic  poets  (among  whom  Solon 
and  Theognis  and  the  older  Simonides  are  reckoned),  or 
moralizing  stories  in  prose,  such  as  the  Fables  of  Aesop,  or  else 
short,  pithy,  wise  sayings,  such  as  those  which  are  attributed  to 
the  Seven  Sages. 

Some  of  these  Seven,  all  of  whom  flourished  in  the  period 
600-550,  and  whom  the  next  age  reverenced  for  their  wisdom, 
were  men  pre-eminent  as  rulers  or  lawgivers,  and  one  was 
renowned  as  the  first  and  perhaps  the  greatest  of  the  Ionic 
philosophers.  Most  of  them  doubtless  wrote,  and  some  of  their 
writings  were  probably  well  known  to  the  ancients,  but  hardly 
anything  remains  except  fragments  of  Solon's  verse,  of  which 
I  shall  speak  later. 

According  to  Plato  the  Seven  Sages  were  Thales  of  Miletus, 
Solon  of  Athens,  Pittacus  of  Mytilene,  Bias  of  Priene,  Cleobulus 
of  lyindus  (Rhodes),  Myson  of  Chenae,  and  Chilon  of  Sparta. 
Others,  strangely  enough,  insert  Periander  of  Corinth  in  the 
place  of  Myson.  Opinions  seem  to  have  differed  much  as  to 
the  authentic  list.  Not  only  do  the  names  of  the  last  three 
vary  considerably,  but  we  have  lists  of  ten,  and  even  of  seven- 
teen. In  later  times  each  of  the  Sages  was  credited  with 
one  distinctive  maxim,  and  some  of  these  maxims,  such  as 
"  Know  thyself,"  "  Nothing  too  much,"  ''  Know  thy  oppor- 
tunity," were  inscribed  on  Apollo's  temple  at  Delphi.  Cleobulus 

133 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

and  his  daughter  seem  to  have  made  a  reputation  by  their 
riddles,  and  the  poet  Simonides  speaks  of  this  vSage  as  a  '  f  oohsh 
mortal.'  Periander,  as  we  have  seen,  may  have  suffered 
much  from  calumny,  but  if  his  wisdom,  as  is  Hkely,  was  such 
as  is  found  in  Machiavelli's  Principe,  we  cannot  wonder  that 
Plato  omits  him. 

Athens,  776-560 

In  a  former  chapter  we  obtained  glimpses  of  Athens  in  the 
Dark  Age,  and  saw  that  she  too,  like  most  of  the  Greek  cities, 
was  at  that  time  under  the  rule  of  aristocracies.  This  con- 
tinued during  the  seventh  century.  The  government  was 
carried  on  by  archons,  whose  term  of  office  had  been  [c.  750) 
reduced  to  ten  years.  Then,  in  683,  three  annual  archons 
were  instituted.  From  this  time  onward  a  list  seems  to  have 
been  kept  of  the  archons,  the  chief  of  whom  gave  his  name 
to  the  year,  and  was  therefore  called  the  archon  eponymos. 
As  deliberative  and  legislative  council,  hke  the  Homeric 
Boule,  the  archons  had  the  Areopagus,  consisting  of  past 
archons  and  fifty-one  special  judges  [ephetae)  and  other  nobles 
(Eupatridae) . 

The  Areopagus,  one  of  the  most  ancient  institutions  of 
Athens,  was  originally  a  court  of  justice  for  cases  of  murder 
and  homicide,  evidently  estabHshed,  like  the  English  '  blood- 
wite,'  in  order  to  regulate  private  vengeance.  According  to 
the  legend  adopted  by  the  Greek  dramatists,  it  was  before  this 
divinely  instituted  court,  and  by  the  votes  of  the  gods  them- 
selves, that  Orestes  was  acquitted  when,  chased  by  the  Furies 
for  the  murder  of  his  mother,  he  sought  sanctuary  at  Athene's 
shrine  in  Athens.  As  Aeschylus  intimates,  the  court  was 
closely  connected  with  the  worship  of  the  Furies  as  avengers  of 
blood,  and  it  is  likely  that  the  name  Areopagus,  which  was 
conferred  to  distinguish  this  court  from  Solon's  Boule,  and 
was  in  later  ages  believed  to  mean  '  The  Hill  of  Mars  '  (Areios 
pagos),  really  means  '  The  Hill  of  the  Arai  '  (Avengers) — as  the 
Semnai,  or  '  Awful  Goddesses,'  are  called  by  Aeschylus  himself. 
The  court  was  gradually  empowered  to  interfere  in  matters 

134 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

of  religion  and  morals,  and  then  in  political  affairs ;  but  after 
serving  as  the  supreme  council  of  the  aristocracy  it  lost  much 
of  its  power  under  the  reforms  of  Solon  and  Cleisthenes,  and 
finally  (in  the  age  of  Demosthenes)  was  allowed  to  retain  no 
authority  except  in  trivial  questions  of  ritual,  gymnastics, 
public  parks,  and  the  like. 

The  Athenian  Kcclesia,  the  great  popular  assembly  lineally 
descended  from  the  Homeric  Agora,  probably  began  to  gain 
more    political    influence    after    the    institution    of    annual 
archons  and  of  the  tribal  guilds.     There  are  many  evidences 
of   a   considerable   advance   towards   democracy   about   the 
opening  of  the  seventh  century.     On  account  of  the  great 
increase  of  trade  and  the  invention  of  money,  wealth  began  to 
abound  and  to  determine  social  and  poHtical  status.    As  in 
the  later  Servian  constitution  at  Rome,  the  people  (formerly, 
as  we  have  seen,  divided  into  nobles,  land-workers,  and  public 
workers)  were  now,  or  perhaps  in  Solon's  time,  for  political 
purposes  classed  according  to  income.     Five  hundred  measures 
of  corn  and  oil  (or  the  equivalent)  put  a  man  in  the  highest 
class,  to  which  the  chief  magistracies  were  confined  ;    three 
hundred  gave  him  the  title  of  knight,  and  two  hundred  that  of 
zeugites,  which  meant  that  he  belonged  to  the  rank  of  the  well- 
to-do  peasant,  the  owner  of  a  span  of  oxen.     Another  sign  of 
advance  was  the  annual  election  (about  650)  of  six  legislators 
(thesmothetae) ,  who,  like  the  Roman  decemviri,  or  perhaps  more 
like  the  Roman  tribunes  of  the  people,  represented  a  growing 
determination  to  acquire  equal  rights  before  the  law.  These  six 
thesmothetae,  whose  ofiice  was  to  examine  laws  and  supervise 
justice,  were  associated  with  the  three  supreme  magistrates, 
so  that  henceforth  we  hear  of  nine  archons. 

While  matters  were  in  this  state  an  event  took  place  which, 
perhaps  because  it  is  so  graphically  described  by  Thucydides, 
as  well  as  by  Herodotus  and  by  Plutarch,  seems  to  stand  out 
as  the  first  distinct  picture  in  the  history  of  Athens. 

Among  the  Athenian  noble  families  (Kupatridae)  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  was  that  of  the  Alcmaeonidae,  a  branch  of 
the  Neleid  family,  which  claimed  descent  from  the  kings  of 

13s 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Pylos.  Now  in  the  year  632,  when  the  Alcmaeonid  Megacles 
was  archon,  an  attempt  was  made  by  an  Athenian  noble, 
Cylon  by  name,  who  had  distinguished  himself  as  winner  of 
the  foot-race  at  Olympia,  to  establish  himself  as  tyrant  at 
Athens.  He  had  married  the  daughter  of  Theagenes  of  Megara, 
and,  incited  by  this  tyrant's  success,  and  by  an  oracle  which 
he  misinterpreted,  with  a  band  of  young  Athenians  and 
Megarian  soldiery  he  seized  the  Acropohs,  trusting  in  popular 
discontent.  He  was  not  supported,  and,  after  being  blockaded 
for  some  time,  he  is  said  by  Thucydides  (not,  however,  by 
Herodotus)  to  have  made  his  escape.  His  comrades  were  forced 
to  capitulate.  They  sought  sanctuary  at  the  "  altar  of  the 
Acropolis  " — evidently  that  of  Athene  PoHas.  "  And  those  of 
the  Athenians  who  had  been  commissioned  to  keep  guard, 
when  they  saw  them  dying  of  famine  in  the  temple  raised  them 
up,  promising  to  do  them  no  harm  ;  but  they  led  them  away 
and  killed  them.  Others  were  cut  down  as  they  tried  to  seat 
themselves  in  front  of  the  altars  of  the  Awful  Goddesses." 
Plutarch  adds  a  graphic  touch — one  that  recalls  other  examples 
of  the  virtue  of  divine  protection  being  transmitted  by  contact. 
He  says  that  the  besieged,  when  under  promise  of  quarter 
they  left  Athene's  temple,  fastened  themselves  with  a  rope  to 
the  statue  of  the  goddess  and  were  making  their  way  down 
from  the  Acropolis,  when  the  rope  broke,^  and  they  fled  to 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Furies,  which  happened  to  be  near,  but 
were  all  cut  down. 

Cylon' s  unsuccessful  raid  is  historically  of  importance,  for 
the  belief  that  a  curse  had  been  incurred  by  Megacles  and  by  the 
Alcmaeonidae  in  this  double  act  of  sacrilege  influenced  the 
course  of  events  on  more  than  one  occasion.  The  taint,  as 
Grotesays, "  was  supposed  to  be  transmitted  to  the  descendants 
of  Megacles,  and  we  shall  find  the  wound  reopened  not  only 
in  the  second  and  third  generation,  but  also  two  centuries 

1  This,  according  to  Plutarch,  was  urged  by  the  Alcmaeonidae  as  a  defence 
against  the  charge  of  sacrilege.  For  other  cases  of  a  belief  in  the  eflScacy 
of  attachment  see  Hdt.  i.  26  (where  Bphesus,  when  besieged,  is  connected 
by  a  cord  with  the  temple  of  Artemis  outside  the  walls),  and  Thuc.  iii.  104 
(where  Rheneia  is  connected  with  Delos  by  a  chain). 

136 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

after  the  original  event."  (See  Index  and  Hdt.  v.  71,  Thuc.  i. 
126.)  For  a  long  time  public  feeling  seems  to  have  been 
deeply  affected  by  exasperation  mingled  with  superstitious 
dread.  At  length — perhaps  about  625,  or  perhaps  later  (for 
Solon  is  said  by  some  to  have  suggested  it) — the  Alcmaeonidae 
were  tried  before  a  special  court  of  300  nobles  and  were  banished, 
those  who  had  already  died  being  disinterred  and  cast  forth 
as  an  '  accursed  thing  '  beyond  the  borders  of  Attica.  But 
religious  excitement  and  despondent  gloom  still  dominated. 
Pestilence  appeared,  and  neither  sacrifice  nor  purification  was 
of  any  avail.  The  Delphic  oracle  was  consulted,  and  bade  the 
Athenians  seek  some  healer  from  a  distant  land. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  Hesiod,  as  well  as  elsewhere, 
there  are  many  evidences  of  the  persistence  of  the  super- 
stitious dread  of  the  supernatural  and  of  the  belief  in  the  efficacy 
of  propitiatory  rites  and  charms  which  were  such  striking 
characteristics  of  the  ancient  Greek  religion,  but  which  seem 
to  have  crept  away  for  a  time  into  obscure  hiding-places  at  the 
advent  of  the  Olympian  gods.  In  a  later  age  we  shall  find 
these  superstitions  revived  in  the  Mysteries  and  the  Orphic 
religion,  and  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  also  at  the  period 
which  we  are  now  considering  such  vague  terrors  and  beliefs 
prevailed  very  generally.  We  read  of  many  magicians  and 
healers,  such  as  the  Hyperborean  Abaris,  and  Aristeas  of 
Metapontion,  and  Thaletas  the  Cretan,  who  was  summoned 
to  Sparta  to  stay  a  pestilence,  and  in  connexion  with  this 
ineradicable  tendency  towards  deisidaimonia  may  be  named 
I  the  philosopherJPythagoras  and  the  Sicilian  Empedocles,  both 
of  whom  were  regarded  as  more  than  human. 

The  healer  whom  the  Athenians  sent  for  (perhaps  about 
625,  perhaps  considerably  later)  was  the  Cretan  Epimenides, 
about  whom  wondrous  tales  are  told.  He  is  said  to  have 
fallen  asleep  in  a  cave  and  to  have  slept  (like  Rip  Van  Winkle) 
ior  more  than  half  a  century,  and  to  have  lived  150  or  even 
500  years.  By  his  contemporaries,  as  also  by  Plato  and 
Cicero,  he  was  regarded  as  divinely  inspired,  and  even  Aristotle 
limself  speaks  of  him  as  something  not  quite  canny.     Besides 

137 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
being  a  prophet  and  a  healer,  he  was  a  proHfic  poet,  and 
possibly  one  very  celebrated  line  of  his,  on  the  subject  of  the 
Cretans,  has  been  preserved  by  St.  Paul.  As  for  his  visit  to 
Athens,  I  will  quote  what  is  said  by  Grote,  who  does  not  dis- 
miss this  very  possible  case  of  faith-healing,  which  is  of  great 
interest  both  psychologically  and  historically,  with  the  curt 
contempt  shown  by  some  other  writers.  *'  Epimenides  is 
said  to  have  turned  out  some  white  and  black  sheep  on  the 
Areopagus,  directing  attendants  to  follow  and  watch  them, 
and  to  erect  new  altars  to  the  appropriate  local  deities  on  the 
spots  where  the  animals  lay  down.  He  founded  new  chapels 
and  established  various  lustral  ceremonies ;  and  more  espe- 
cially he  regulated  the  worship  paid  by  the  women  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  calm  the  violent  impulses  which  had  before 
agitated  them.  .  .  .  The  general  fact  of  his  visit  and  the 
salutary  effects  produced  in  removing  the  religious  despondency 
which  oppressed  the  Athenians  are  well  attested." 

The  pestilence  very  probably  departed  in  the  wake  of  the 
religious  despondency,  but  in  this  disturbed  state  of  public 
feeling  doubtless  political  animosities  were  intensified  and 
lawlessness  grew  rampant. 

As  a  drastic  remedy  the  Athenians  commissioned  Dracon, 
the  archon  of  the  year  621,  to  reform  the  laws  and  publish  a 
written  code.  Dracon's  laws  were  "  written  in  blood,"  as  an 
orator  of  later  days  expressed  it.  His  reforms  seem  to  have! 
consisted  largely  in  terrorism.  He  increased  penalties  to 
such  an  extent  that  petty  theft  was  punishable  by  death, ^ 
and  debt  exposed  a  man  to  the  danger  of  slavery.  Suchj 
relapse  to  barbarism  may  have  had  an  effect  for  a  time,  but; 
could  not  permanently  satisfy  either  rich  or  poor.     The  fact; 

1  See  Hor.  Sat.  I,  iii.  115  sq.,  where  the  allusion  is  evidently  to  Dracon. 
Aristotle  intimates  that  even  idleness  was  thus  punishable.  An  Egyptian  lawj 
of  King  Amasis  punished  with  death  a  man  who  would  not  work  to  support 
his  family.  Dracon's  laws  have  perhaps  been  misrepresented.  He  may 
have  merely  codified  old  and  severe  laws,  some  already  lapsed.  He  seems  to 
have  instituted  some  carefully  framed  legal  forms,  such  as  trials  for  variouf 
cases  of  homicide.  Even  inanimate  objects  charged  with  homicide,  if  con- 
demned, were  solemnly  cast  forth  beyond  the  frontier.  Also  the  fifty-one 
ephetae  (special  judges)  may  have  been  his  creation. 

138 


THE   AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

that  the  laws  were  now  fixed  in  writing  was  an  immense 
advantage,  but  their  publication  doubtless  made  the  poorer 
classes  realize  all  the  more  keenly  the  intolerable  state  of 
bondage  and  misery  into  which  they  had  been  brought  by 
debt  and  mortgage  and  the  insolent  exactions  of  the  rich, 
by  which  many  had  been  reduced  to  actual  slavery  or  to  the 
necessity  of  selling  their  own  children  as  slaves  to  pitiless 
creditors. 

At  this  crisis  a  great  and  wise  man  arose  who  refounded  the 
state  on  the  basis  of  true  democracy,  as  some  two  and  a  half 
centuries  later  the  celebrated  Rogations  of  lyicinius  set  upon 
its  true  basis  the  Roman  republic. 

I  do  not  intend  to  give  any  detailed  account  of  Solon's 
constitution.  It  is  a  subject  that  requires  full  and  special 
treatment,  and  such  it  has  received  from  writers  who  regard 
the  political  history  of  Greece  as  of  great  importance.  To  me 
it  seems  that  we  have  little  to  learn  from  Greece  in  politics — 
as  little,  perhaps,  as  from  her  perpetual  intestine  feuds. 
I  shall,  therefore,  while  giving  a  sketch  of  Solon's  personality, 
touch  very  briefly  on  his  reforms. 

Solon  was  born  about  638,  some  seventeen  years  before  the 
archonship  of  Dracon.  He  claimed  descent  from  Codrus,  and 
from  Poseidon  through  the  PyHan  Nestor,  and  his  mother  was 
a  cousin  of  Peisistratus.  But  his  patrimony  had  been  wasted, 
and  he  took  to  trade  and  visited  many  distant  lands,  where 
he  gained  not  only  riches  but  a  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of 
human  character  and  of  letters  which  placed  him  on  a  level 
probably  much  higher  than  that  of  most  Athenians  of  his 
day.  It  was  natural  that  under  such  circumstances  he  should 
express  his  opinions  and  feelings  in  a  written  form  ;  and  that 
this  form  should  be  verse  was  almost  inevitable,  for  (as  we 
shall  see  in  a  subsequent  section)  there  was  as  yet  no  prose 
literature.  His  high  birth  and  the  great  reputation  that  his 
knowledge  brought  him,  and  perhaps  also  his  newly  acquired 
wealth,  led  to  his  election,  in  594,  as  archon  with  unlimited 
legislative  powers,  in  order  that  he  should  discover  some 
modus  Vivendi  between  the  people  and  the  rapacious  aristocracy. 

139 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
Doubtless  his  life  had  brought  him  much  in  contact  with  the 
working  classes,  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  closely  connected 
with  the  nobility,   so  that  great  hopes  were  placed  in  his 
mediation. 

His  first  move  must  have  startled  both  parties.  On  entering 
office  he  should  have  made  the  usual  public  declaration  that 
he  would  "  preserve  undiminished  all  private  property." 
Instead  of  this,  he  published  an  ordinance  named  the  Seisach- 
theia  (the  '  Shaking  off  of  Burdens '),  which  cancelled  all 
obligations  that  pledged  the  liberty  of  the  debtor  and  set  free 
all  deb  tor-slaves.  1  Then  he  repealed  all  Dracon's  laws  except 
those  that  dealt  with  homicide,  and  having  thus  cleared  the 
ground,  and  having  deprived  the  oligarchic  Areopagus  of  some 
important  functions,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  future 
Athenian  democracy  by  extending  the  franchise  to  the  Thetes 
(lit.  hirelings),  the  lowest  of  the  four  classes,  by  instituting 
the  Hehaea,  or  popular  courts  of  justice,  in  which  every 
citizen  in  turn  could  take  his  place  among  the  dicasts  (judges 
or  jurymen),  and  by  introducing  election  by  lot.^  Moreover, 
he  formed  a  new  council  (Boule)  of  400  members  chosen  from 
the  whole  people  except  the  Thetes,  and  transferred  to  this 
council  from  the  Areopagus  the  work  of  preparing  measures 
to  be  submitted  to  the  Bcclesia.  In  addition  to  these  con- 
stitutional reforms  he  limited  private  land-owning  and  forbade 
exportation  of  Attic  products,  except  oil.  Solon's  laws  were 
written,  or  inscribed,  on  tablets  or  pillars  (agoi/e?,  Kvp/Set^), 
which  revolved  on  a  pivot,  and  were  first  kept  in  the  Acropolis, 
but  later,  by  the  advice  of  Ephialtes,  were  placed  in  the 
Agora. 

Whether  it  was  before,  during,  or  even  long  after  his 
archonship  is  quite  uncertain,  but  the  conquest  of  Salamis 
by  Athens  is  said  to  have  been  due  to  Solon's  influence.  Bleusis 
had  been  annexed  long  before,  but  Salamis,  lying  close  in  front 

*  The  Greek  expression  eTrt  r«  arafiari  davel^eiv  corresponds  to  the  Latin 
nexum  inire.     See  addictus  and  nexus  in  Diet.  Ant. 

'  Lot  was  used  for  selecting  the  nine  archons  out  of  forty  candidates  pro- 
posed by  the  tribes.     The  Heliaea  soon  deprived  the  archons  of  all  judicial 
power  and  became  the  final  court  of  justice. 
140 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

of  the  Peiraeus,  was  still  in  the  possession  of  Megara,  and 
so  often  had  the  Athenians  vainly  tried  to  conquer  it  that, 
it  is  said,  they  forbade  under  penalty  of  death  any  proposal 
to  renew  the  attempt.  Pretending  to  be  in  a  divinely  inspired 
frenzy,  vSolon  recited  in  public  some  verses  in  which  he  passion- 
ately denounced  the  cowardice  of  *  Salamis-abandoners,'  and 
called  on  the  Athenians  to  *'  cast  aside  their  disgrace  "  and  once 
more  to  *'  fight  for  the  lovely  island."  The  result  of  this  appeal 
was  another  attack  on  Salamis,  which  ended,  perhaps  by  the 
arbitrage  of  Sparta,  in  the  island  being  separated  permanently 
from  Megara  and  divided  among  Athenian  cleruchs  ('  lot- 
holders  ').  It  seems  possible  that  Peisistratus  acted  as 
general  in  this  war,  and  succeeded  in  occupying  Nisaea,  the 
port  of  Megara — a  military  success  that  perhaps  made  effective 
the  Athenians'  claim  that  Salamis  had  originally  belonged  to 
them.^ 

Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  Athenians  swore  to  obey 
Solon's  laws  for  ten  (Plutarch  says  a  hundred)  years,  and  that 
during  these  ten  years  he  visited  Egypt  and  Cyprus  ^  and  other 
distant  lands.  If  this  took  place  soon  after  his  archonship 
he  must  have  returned  to  Athens  about  582,  and  as  he  did  not 
die  till  about  558  there  is  an  interval  of  over  twenty  years 
which  we  must  suppose  him  to  have  passed  at  Athens,  possibly 
making  voyages  from  time  to  time  across  the  Aegaean.  But 
even  if  his  visit  to  Egypt  and  Cyprus  took  place  much  later 
(Herodotus  says  he  was  in  Egypt  in  the  reign  of  Amasis,  who 
came  to  the  throne  in  570),  and  if  he  did  not  return  to  Athens 
until  about  562,  there  is  no  reason  why  between  560  and  his 
death  in  558  he  may  not  have  visited  King  Croesus,  as 
Herodotus  asserts — although  this  was  denied  even  in  Plutarch's 
day  as  chronologically  impossible,  and  is  denied  by  some 
modern  writers.  The  well-known  story  of  this  visit,  so 
beautifully  narrated  by  Herodotus,  will  be  given  later. 

^  Both  sides  appealed  to  the  mode  of  burial  in  the  ancient  tombs  of  Salamis. 
The  Athenians  cited  the  (perhaps  interpolated)  line  in  the  Homeric  '  Cata- 
logue of  Ships  '  in  which  Ajax,  who  brought  twelve  ships  from  Salamis,  is  said 
I  to  have  "  drawn  them  up  where  the  Athenian  hosts  were  encamped." 

*  In  Cyprus  he  is  said  to  have  persuaded  a  prince  to  found  the  city  Soli. 

141 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
It  was  probably  during  the  absence  of  Solon  {c.  568)  that 
the  unsuccessful  attack  on  Aegina  was  made  by  the  Athenians 
which,  according  to  Herodotus  (v.  8y),  had  such  a  dramatic 
ending  and  caused  a  revolution  in  the  dress  fashions  of  Athenian 
women,  on  account  of  their  having  stabbed  to  death  with  their 
long  stiletto  dress-pins  the  sole  survivor  of  the  ill-fated 
expedition  (see  Note  B,  on  Dress).  This  attack  was  repelled 
with  Argive  help  ;  and  for  some  time  to  come  we  shall  find 
Athens  and  Argos  on  anything  but  friendly  terms 

Fierce  dissensions  had  again  broken  out  in  Athens — so  fierce 
that  for  two  years  no  archons  were  elected.  The  party  of  the 
Plain,  composed  of  rich  landowners,  was  headed  by  lyycurgus  ; 
that  of  the  Coast,  formed  mainly  of  the  industrial  and  working 
classes,  was  led  by  that  Megacles  who  had  married  Agarista 
of  Sicyon — a  grandson  of  the  Megacles  whose  sacrilege  in  the 
matter  of  Cylon  had  caused  a  temporary  banishment  of  the 
Alcmaeonid  family.  At  last,  taking  advantage  of  these 
dissensions,  a  friend  and  relative  of  Solon,  a  man  who  had 
distinguished  himself  in  the  war  against  Megara  and  had  Vv^on 
great  favour  among  the  extreme  democrats  and  other  dis- 
contents, created  a  third  party,  that  of  the  Hills — so  called 
because  it  comprised  many  of  the  peasants  of  the  Attic  high- 
lands. This  man  was  Peisistratus,  the  rise  and  fall  of  whose 
tyranny  will  be  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 

Solon  is  said  to  have  detected  and  denounced,  but  in  vain, 
the  ambitious  projects  of  Peisi stratus.  He  died  about  two 
years  after  the  establishment  of  the  tyranny.  His  ashes,  it 
is  said,  were  by  his  orders  strewn  over  the  soil  of  Salamis, 

SECTION  A  :  EGYPT  AND  CYRENE  {c.  670-570) 

In  Section  C,  Chapter  II,  I  sketched  the  history  of  Egypt, 
as  far  as  it  touches  that  of  Greece,  down  to  its  conquest  (c.  674) 
by  the  Assyrian  monarch  Assarhaddon.  Some  five  years  later 
this  great  king  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  abdicated  (weary  of 
power,  like  Charles  V) ,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  unwarlike  and 
literary  Assurbanipal,  known  to  the  Greeks  as  Sardanapalos. 
142 


THE   AGE    OF   COLONIZATION 

Now  of  the  twelve  vassal-kings  who  still  governed.  Kgypt 
under  the  suzerainty  of  Assyria,  one  named  Psamtik  (Psam- 
metichus),  of  I^ibyan  descent,  who  reigned  at  Sais,  in  the 
Delta,  is  said  by  Herodotus  to  have  been  dethroned  by  his 
fellow-rulers  and  to  have  fled  to  the  marshes.  Having  sent 
to  inquire  of  the  famous  Egyptian  oracle  of  I^eto,  he  was  told 
that  '*  vengeance  would  come  from  the  sea,  when  bronzen 
men  should  appear."  Not  long  afterwards  some  bronze-clad 
Carian  and  Ionian  warriors  were  driven  by  storms  to  the 
Egyptian  shore  (modern  criticism  believes  they  were  purposely 
sent  by  the  king  of  I^ydia),  and  by  their  help  Psamtik  brought 
the  whole  land  under  his  sway,  founding  thus  the  dynasty  of 
the  four  Saitic  kings,  and  defeated  Assurbanipal  {c.  664)  and 
finally  drove  the  Assyrians  out  of  Egypt.  He  naturally  showed 
great  favour  to  the  lonians  and  other  Greeks,  who  now  for  the 
first  time  were  allowed  to  settle  freely  in  Egypt.  About  660 
the  Milesians  founded  the  trade-settlement  Naucratis,  the 
ruins  of  which  have  lately  been  discovered  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Canopus  Nile,  not  far  from  Sais.^  Greek  mercenaries 
formed  the  right  wing  of  the  army,  and  also  the  garrison  in  the 
new  and  least  remote  Egyptian  stronghold,  Defenneh  (called 
by  the  Greeks  '  Daphnae,'  i.e.  I^aurels),  which  Psamtik  had 
built  as  a  defence  against  his  eastern  foes.  These  favours  are 
said  to  have  so  incensed  the  native  Egyptian  soldiery,  who  had 
i  to  garrison  the  distant  Aethiopian  and  lyibyan  frontiers,  that 
they  revolted,  and  240,000  of  them  marched  south  and  settled 
inAethiopia  (perhaps  Abyssinia) ,  four  months'  journey  beyond 
Syene  (Assouan)  and  two  beyond  Meroe  (Khartum). 

Psamtik  reigned  for  forty-seven  years,  and  extended  his 
iominions  to  the  boundaries  of  Syria,  but  there  he  was  stopped 
3y  the  Scythians,  who  at  this  period  swept  over  the  east  of 
^sia  Minor  and  were  only  induced  by  a  large  bribe  not  to 
ittack  Egypt  itself.  Of  Necho,  his  successor,  we  have  already 
leard.     He  also  favoured  the  Greeks,  and  they  helped  him  to 

^  No  large  temples  but  numerous  small  ones  have  been  found — evidently 
;he  '  chapels  '  of  the  various  Hellenic  settlers.  I^ater  a  great  fortified  brick 
inclosure,  the  Helleneion,  with  large  stone  storehouses,  was  built,  probably 
iy  leave  of  King  Amasis. 

I 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

build  his  triremes  and  merchant  fleets.  In  his  ships  Phoeni- 
cians circumnavigated  Africa.  He  cut  a  canal  from  the  Nile 
to  the  Red  Sea,  and  prolonged  the  Suez  Canal,  begun  in  the 
fourteenth  century  B.C.  by  King  Seti  and  finished  by  de  lycsseps 
in  the  nineteenth  century  a.d.  He  defeated  and  slew  King 
Josiah  at  Megiddo,  and  advanced  as  far  as  the  Euphrates, 
but  was  defeated  at  Carchemish  (6oi)  by  Nebucadnezar,  the 
young  king  of  the  new  Babylonian  Empire — for  Nineveh  and 
the  Assyrian  Empire  had  fallen  in  the  year  606. 

His  son,  Psammis  (Psamtik  II),  made  an  expedition  against 
the  Aethiopians,  or  possibly  the  Deserters  ^  who  had  settled  in 
Aethiopia.  In  his  army  were  many  Greek  mercenaries,  and  one 
can  yet  see  at  Abu  Simbel,  on  the  Upper  Nile,  some  forty  miles 
before  reaching  Wady  Haifa,  Greek  names  and  inscriptions  on 
the  legs  of  a  colossus  (Fig.  44)  cut  by  some  of  these  soldiers. 

Psamtik  II  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Apries  (the  Hophra 
of  the  Bible),  who  gave  refuge  to  a  '  remnant '  of  Jews  after 
Judah  had  been  carried  away  to  Babylon  by  Nebucadnezar 
in  587.  Among  these  Jews  was  Jeremiah,  who  had  been  set 
free  by  Nebucadnezar  and  had  in  vain  tried  to  dissuade  his 
countrymen  from  leaving  their  native  land,  but  had  accom- 
panied them  to  Tahpanhes  (Defenneh,  or  Daphnae),  where 
they  were  allowed  to  settle,  protected  by  the  Greek  garrison  of 
the  frontier  fortress.  ^  It  will  be  remembered  how  Jeremiah 
(xliii.  10)  buried  great  stones  in  clay  at  the  entry  of  *  Pharaoh's 
house  '  Sit  Daphnae  and  prophesied  that  Nebucadnezar  would! 
come  and  set  up  his  throne  and  his  royal  pavilion  above  thesej 
stones.  Nebucadnezar  did  come  (c.  572),  as  both  Jeremiahj 
and  Ezekiel  had  prophesied,  and  overran  Egypt  right  up  toi 
Syene  (Assouan)  ;  and  at  Daphnae  the  modern  excavator 
has  found  not  only  Greek  pottery  in  abundance,  but  the  relics! 
of  the  burnt  palace  of  Hophra  (which  "  to  this  day,  most! 
curiously,  bears  the  title  of  the  house  of  the  Jew's  daughter")} 
and  also  a  square  pavement  which  may  possibly  be  the  veryi 

*  Called  also  '  I^eft-wing  men  '  ('  Asmachs'  =Abyssinians  ?)  because  deprived! 

of  the  place  of  honour  on  the  right  wing  ;  whence  their  discontent  and  rebellion.! 

2  2  Kings  XXV.  26  ;  Jer.  xl.-xliii.  (perhaps  partly  by  the '  Deutero- Jeremiah '). 

144 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

stones  "  hid  in  the  clay  "  by  Jeremiah,  above  which  the  king 
of  Babylon  set  up  his  throne  and  pavilion.  Nebucadnezar 
and  his  Babylonians  did  not  remain  long,  and  an  unsuc- 
cessful expedition  by  the  Egyptian  native  army  against 
Cyrene  caused  disturbances  amidst  which  Hophra  (Apries), 
although  supported  by  his  Greek  troops,  was  dethroned  by 
Aahmes,  known  in  Greek  history  as  Amasis,  in  whose  reign, 
as  we  shall  see  later,  there  was  much  friendly  intercourse 
between  Egypt  and  Hellas  ;  for  although  Greek  mercenaries 
had  fought  against  him  he  was  wise  enough  to  forget  it. 

The  unsuccessful  expedition  of  the  Egyptian  army  against 

Cyrene  was  possibly  made    against    the  wishes    of  Apries, 

and  none  of  his  Greek  soldiers  took  part  in  it — as  was  but 

natural,  for  Cyrene  (some  200  miles  to  the  west  of  Egypt)  was 

a  Greek  colony.     It  was  founded  (c.  630)  by  aborigines  of  the 

small  volcanic  island  Thera,  who  had  quarrelled  with  Dorian 

settlers.     After  several  failures  ^  a  site  was  found  in  the  hills 

about  eight  miles  from  the  coast  and  about  1800  feet  above  the 

sea,  near  to  a  fine  spring  and  in  a  part  of  I^ibya  where,  according 

to  Herodotus,  there  were  three  different  climates,   allowing 

harvest  during  eight  months  of  the  year,  and  such  abundant 

rains  that  the  natives  described  the  place  as  one  in  which 

**  the  sky  leaks."     Here  Aristoteles  of  Thera  founded  Cyrene 

.and  adopted  the  native  name  Battus  ('  King  '),  and  for  eight 

generations  the   Battiadae  held   kingly  power.    About   560 

Cyrene  founded  Barca,  which  soon  rivalled  its  mother-city. 

In  its  earlier  days  (c.  580)  Cyrene  gained  literary  fame  from  its 

poet  Eugammon,  who,  like  other  Cyclic  poets,  tried  to  finish 

5 the  stories  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey.     He  wrote  the  Telegoneia, 

■the  story  of  the   son  of  Odysseus  and  Circe,  and  (as  Virgil 

did  for  the  Romans)  connected  the  legend  of  Troy  with  the 

history   of   his   countrymen.     At  a  later  period  Cyrene  was 

the  home  of  several  renowned  philosophers  and  literary  men, 

and  Cyrenaica,  with  its  five  prosperous  cities,  became  a  very 

rich  province  of  the  Ptolemies,    and   afterwards   of    Rome. 

^  Herodotus  (iv.  145  sq.)  gives  a  very  long  story  of  these  Therans  and  of 
misinterpreted  oracles,  &c.     See  also  iv.  199. 

K  145 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

The   wealth   of   the  country  was  largely  due  to  the  rather 
mysterious  plant  silphion — for  which  see  coin  6,  Plate  VI. 

SECTION  B :   LYDIA  (J76-S60) 

Except  Cyrene  there  was  no  point  of  antagonism  between 
Hellas  and  Egypt,  and  the  conflict  between  the  Hellenic  and 
Semitic  races  in  Sicily  was  yet  to  come,  but  in  Asia  Minor  the 
Greek  colonies  had  a  vast  hinterland  of  Oriental  or  semi- 
Oriental  nations — the  wild  Pisidian  tribes,  the  I^ycians, 
Carians,  Mysians,  Phrygians,  I^ydians — some  of  them  of 
Aryan  blood  largely  intermixed  with  that  of  the  old  Cappa- 
docian  and  Hittite  aborigines.  And  behind  all  these  again 
loomed  during  the  earlier  ages  the  mighty  empires  of  old 
Babylonia,  of  Assyria,  and  of  the  Babylon  of  Nebucadnezar, 
soon  to  be  replaced  by  the  still  more  dangerous  empire  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  destiny  of 
modern  Europe  was  decided  by  the  battles  of  Salamis 
and  Himera — which  took  place,  if  we  may  believe  tradition, 
on  the  self-same  day.  Anyhow,  it  was  decided  by  the 
result  of  the  conflict  of  Hellas  with  the  non-Hellenic  world, 
especially  with  Persia  and  Carthage.  It  is  therefore  advisable, 
without  distracting  our  attention  too  much,  to  keep  the  chief 
of  these  nations  in  view. 

Down  to  the  conquest  of   I^ydia  by  Cyrus  (546)  the  great 
empires  of  the  far  East  had  not  come  into  direct  contact  with 
the  Hellenic  world,  except  that  Greeks  in  Cyprus  had  become 
subjects  of  the  Assyrian  kings  Sargon  and  Assarhaddon,  and 
Greek  mercenaries  had  fought  against  Nebucadnezar  in  Egypt. 
In   Ionia   and  Greece  itself  much  had  doubtless  been  heard 
of  the  vast  cities  and  armies  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  and 
something  of  the  learning  of  the  East,  such  as  the  Chaldaean 
astronomy  and  their  system  of  weights,  had  been  introduced  ; 
but    during    the    age    that    we    are    considering    (776-560) 
Phrygia  and  I^ydia  formed  a  buffer  between  Asiatic  Hellas 
and  the  far  East,  and  what  at  present  concerns   us  is    the 
146 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

history  of  these  nearer  Oriental  countries  and  their  relation  to 
Ionia. 

In  Phrygia,  which  enclosed  I^ydia  on  the  east,  the  dominant 
race  (as  we  saw  in  Chapter  I)  was  of  Northern  (Aryan)  stock, 
and  therefore  was  akin  to  the  Greek.  Phrygians  evidently 
settled  also  in  I^ydia  and  are  the  '  Maeonians  '  mentioned 
by  Homer  (who  knows  nothing  of  *  I^ydians  ').  They  founded 
what  some  writers  have  even  called  a  '  Heracleid  *  (Greek) 
dynasty  of  I^ydian  kings,  who,  as  also  the  Phrygian  kings 
(named  alternately  Gordias  and  Midas),  lived  on  friendly 
terms  with  the  Ionian  and  Aeolian  Greeks.  The  wealth  and 
civilization  of  both  nations  were  evidently  considerable.  They 
seem  to  have  introduced  the  alphabet  at  an  early  age,  and  their 
music  and  decorative  art  had  influence  on  the  Greeks.  One 
King  Midas  (perhaps  the  one  to  whom  the  fable  gives 
donkey's  ears)  made  the  gift  of  his  royal  throne  to  the  temple 
at  Delphi — the  first  offering,  says  Herodotus,  made  by  a 
'  barbarian.' 

But  it  is  of  lyydia  that  we  hear  most.  Its  capital,  Sardis, 
was  built  on  a  precipitous  spur  of  Mount  Tmolus,  whence 
flowed  into  the  Hermus  the  gold-bearing  stream  Pactolus — 
one  of  the  sources  of  I^ydian  wealth.  The  '  Heracleid '  kings 
seem  to  have  brought  the  country  to  a  high  state  of  prosperity. 
Herodotus  even  relates  that  these  early  I^ydians  colonized 
Umbria,  in  Italy,  and  founded  the  Tyrrhenian  (Ktruscan) 
nation  ;  and  he  tells  us  that  they  invented  "  all  the  games 
that  are  common  to  them  and  the  Greeks,*'  and  also  the  use  of 
gold-and-silver  {electron)  coinage. 

The  last  of  the  '  Heracleid  '  kings  was  Candaules.  ^     He  was 

i  slain  [c.  716)  by  Gyges,  who  established  the  dynasty  of  the 

lative  lyydian  Mermnadae,  to  which  Croesus  belonged.     Gyges 

extended  the  I^ydian  power  over  Mysia  and  endeavoured  to 

I  conquer  the  Greek  seaboard  of  the  Aegaean,  but  about  680 

*  An    Aryan   name    meaning  '  dog-throttler,'  corresponding  to  KwdyKr^s, 

in  epithet  given  by  Hipponax  to  the  god  Hermes  :  "  O  dog-throttler  Hermes, 

'  ty  the  Maeonians  called  Candaules."    War-dogs  were  used  by  the  Cimmerians 

nd  other  barbarians.     For  the  dramatic  story  of  Candaules  and  Gyges  see 

Idt.  i.  7.     Coinage  was  probably  first  introduced  by  Gyges.     See  Note  C. 

147 


I 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Ivydia  itself  was  attacked  from  the  north  and  east  by  the 
innumerable  hordes  of  a  wild  northern  people  called  the 
Cimmerians. 

The  Cimmerians  (doubtless  the  originals  of  Homer's 
fabulous  Cimmerians  on  the  further  shore  of  the  river  Ocean) 
were  probably  driven  south  from  their  country  (Cimmeria, 
i.e.  the  Crimea)  by  the  pressure  of  other  northern  tribes. 
Whether  they  came  by  way  of  the  Danube  delta  or  the 
Caucasus  is  unknown,  but  they  captured  the  Greek  city 
Sinope  and  made  it  their  chief  camp,  whence  they  ravaged 
almost  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor,  and  even  attacked  the  great 
Assyrian  king,  Assarhaddon.  At  first  Gyges  was  successful, 
and  he  sent  many  Cimmerian  captives  in  chains  to  Nineveh — the 
first  act  of  I^ydian  homage  to  Assyria,  if  such  it  was,  that  we 
hear  of.  But  two  years  later  the  Cimmerians  again  poured 
down  from  the  north,  slew  Gyges,  plundered  vSardis,  and 
pressed  southwards,  where  they  destroyed  Magnesia  and  burnt 
the  great  temple  of  Artemis  that  stood  outside  the  city  walls  of 
Kphesus.  Of  these  hordes  of  ravaging  northern  barbarians  the 
Kphesian  poet  Callinus  speaks  (as  we  shall  see  in  Section  D), 
and  a  vivid  picture  of  them  is  given  on  a  sarcophagus  of 
Clazomenae  (Fig.  45). 

Between  Gyges  and  Croesus  three  kings  reigned,  Ardys 
(678-629),  Sadyattes  (629-617),  and  Alyattes  (617-560). 
During  this  period  we  hear  of  various  invasions  of  West  Asia 
Minor  by  Cimmerians,  while  in  the  far  Bast  the  Scythians, 
another  wild  northern  people,  totally  defeated  the  king  of 
Media,  Cyaxares,  and  for  twenty-eight  years  (640-612)  were 
dominant  even  as  far  south  as  the  Philistine  city  of  Ascalon, 
which  they  sacked.  Indeed,  it  was  only  by  bribes  that 
Psamtik  I  saved  Egypt  from  them. 

In  spite  of  these  recurring  Cimmerian  invasions  Ardys  and 
Sadyattes  seem  to  have  attacked  Ionia.  Priene  and  perhaps 
other  cities  were  taken,  and  Miletus  was  much  harassed  by 
them.  Alyattes  finally  expelled  the  Cimmerians.  He  then 
turned  his  arms  against  the  Greeks,  wishing  doubtless  to  acquire 
a  seaboard  for  I^ydia.  He  took  and  utterly  destroyed  {c.  590) 
148 


44-  Coi^ossi  OF  Abu  Simbei. 


45.  Cimmerians  on  the  Sarcophagus  op  Ci^azomenae  148 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

new  Smyrna/  which  now  almost  disappears  from  the  history 
of  ancient  Greece,  but  after  warring  for  eleven  years  against 
Miletus  (now  under  the  tyranny  of  Thrasybulus,  Periander*s 
friend)  he  made  peace,  probably  because  I^ydia  was  assailed 
by  a  new  foe,  namely,  the  Medes,  who  under  Cyaxares  (the 
conqueror  of  Babylon)  and  his  son  Astyages  were  extending 
the  new  Median  empire  towards  the  Aegaean.  In  the  sixth 
year  this  war  between  I^ydia  and  the  Medes  was  ended  by  a 
strange  occurrence.  In  the  midst  of  a  battle  the  sun  was 
darkened,  and  the  combatants  were  so  alarmed  that  they  ceased 
fighting  and  concluded  a  peace.  This  solar  eclipse,  the  date 
of  which  was  May  28,  585,  is  of  interest  not  only  because  it 

.  gives  us  (like  the  eclipse  of  648  recorded  by  Archilochus) 
an  exact  date,  but  because  it  was  foretold,  more  or  less  accu- 
rately, by  the  philosopher  Thales.  This  was  perhaps  the  first 
eclipse  predicted  by  a  European.  Thales  gained  his  know- 
ledge of  the  lunar  cycle  (of  about  seventeen  years)  and  the 

;  astronomical  data  for  calculating  eclipses  from  the  Egyptians, 

I  who  themselves,  it  is  likely,  were  indebted  to  the  Chaldaeans 
of  Babylon.  2     But  whatever  may  have  been  the  source  of  his 

i  knowledge,  the  prediction  of  Thales  was  a  momentous  event, 
for  it  was,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  very  first  attempt  made  in 
Europe  to  lay  the  foundation  of  inductive  science.  It  marks, 
as  Grote  says,  the  beginning  in  the  Hellenic  world  of  scientific 
prediction  as  distinguished  from  the  prophecies  of  soothsayers, 
oracles,  and  omens. 

To  seal  the  peace  with  Media  King  Alyattes  gave  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  Astyages,  and  for  the  next  forty  years 
Ivydia  enjoyed,  under  Alyattes  and  his  son  Croesus,  brilliant 
prosperity,  until  Cyrus  the  Persian  overthrew  the  Median 
Astyages,  and  twelve  years  later  (546)  attacked  and  overthrew 
the  Ivydian  Croesus  also,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter. 

^  See  p.  63.     But  Pindar  afterwards  mentions  Smyrna  as  a  '  bright  city.' 
"  Ptolemy,   the  great  geographer  and  astronomer,    although  he  lived  in 
^gypt,  cites  the  Chaldaean  calculations  for  eclipses  as  the  earliest  {i.e.  from 
721).     Egyptian  astronomical  knowledge,  however,  dates  at  least  from  the 
I  time  of  the  Pyramids  (c.  3000). 

149 


< 

^s 

Q 

00 

ON 

N 

k^ 

S 

4 

i:- 

7 

00 
vO 

CO 

'^  ^^ 

t>> 

< 

03  < 

tn  O 
D   o 

O     . 


M 

lO 

V.O 

ON 

A 

? 

vn 

VO 

vn 

VO 

VJ 

. 

<o 

1 

to 

Q 

ca 

rt 

« 

'  ^ 

t^  C<  CO 

W      IH        I  •> 

<U     <U     (v|  ^ 


O. 
VO         VO 

^  a,  J^ 

03     P     o 

en    CO  ^ 
<< 


d  tJ       rt 
o  t:) 

1-1       rtl    "^H 


VO 
■<^ 
in 

I 
o 

VO 

»o 


U 


p2 


o 


a 


»o  d 

vo5 

»o 


•PC:^^  o^ 
vom        ?^ 

0>M    t>^ 
to       _^     • 


r-SJ 


o 

a  ^ 

d  «i 


IH      (1) 


rt 


^voo^z;  o 

CiVO 


<v  ^d 
d  o 


d  V  o 


d 

d 
o 

,o 


to 
'd 

d 
d 
o 

fd    . 
d  w 

^     M 

d  Oh 

w  ;< 
^  w 


04 

o 


d 


j3   to   rt 


ISO 


§ 

'd 

'd 

-s 

C8 

to 

CO 

< 

^d 

\m 

O  ^   to    a> 


M 


O 
t^ 
to 

VO^    ^ 

M  o  r^ 

^  ffi  >o 


«5    o    fl 

to  ca^  q 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

SECTION  C :   THE  GAMES 

It  is  a  trite  remark  that  Greece  was  never  a  nation  ;  and  it 
is  true  that  Hellas,  and  even  the  Hellenic  homeland,  had  no 
political  coherence.  Very  rarely,  as  Thucydides  says,  did  the 
Greek  states  take  any  combined  action,  and  even  against  the 
Persians  the  combination  was  by  no  means  complete.  Greek 
patriotism  was  not  based  on  the  idea  of  political  union,  far 
less  on  that  of  any  central  imperial  power.  All  imperialism, 
all  hegemony  of  Greek  over  Greek,  was  as  odious  as  tyranny 
to  the  deeper  instincts  of  the  race,  and  although  such 
temporary  structures  as  the  Athenian  Empire  and  the 
Spartan  and  Theban  supremacies  arose  from  time  to  time, 
they  were  maintained  by  forces  foreign  to  true  Hellenic 
genius.  But  though  not  united  politically,  often  torn  asunder 
by  intestine  feuds,  the  Hellenic  world  was  united  in  heart  by 
sentiments  perhaps  nobler  than  those  of  ordinary  patriotism 
— by  the  proud  consciousness  of  kinship  not  only  in  blood 
but  in  the  deepest  sympathies  of  human  nature,  such  as  find 
expression  in  religion  and  art  and  literature. 

This  fact  is  finely  stated  in  the  message  sent  by  the  Athenians 
to  Sparta  before  the  capture  of  Athens  by  Mardonius  the 
Persian  :  "  Not  all  the  gold  that  the  earth  contains  would 
bribe  us  to  take  part  with  the  Medes  and  help  them  to  enslave 
our  countrymen.  .  .  .  There  is  our  common  brotherhood, 
our  common  language,  the  altars  and  the  sacrifices  of  which 
we  all  partake,  and  the  common  character  which  we  bear. 
Did  the  Athenians  betray  all  this,  of  a  truth  it  would  not  be 
well,^' 

This  consciousness,  which  more  and  more  counteracted 
the  old  antipathies  between  Doric,  Ionian,  and  other  sections 
of  the  race,  and  inspired  all  Hellas  with  a  feeling  of  boundless 
superiority  over  the  nations  that  surrounded  it  on  all  sides — 
though  some  of  these  '  barbarians  '  could  boast  of  a  civilization 
far  more  ancient  and  a  sense  of  truth  and  honour  ^  far  keener 

1  See  later  remarks  on  the  Persian  character.  The  traitor  was  never  far  to 
seek  among  the  Greeks,  but  was  scarcely  known  among  the  Persians. 

151 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
than  that  of  the  Greeks — ^was  fostered  by  the  great  religious 
festivals  held  by  the  mother-cities,  to  which  the  colonies  of 
the   Hellenic  world  sent  solemn  embassies    (Oewplai)    vying 
with  each  other  in  the  magnificence  of  their  offerings. 

Also  for  the  Greeks  of  the  colonies  there  were  meeting- 
places  where  great  festivals  were  held,  such  as  the  Ivicinian 
promontory  in  South  Italy,  and  the  island  of  Delos.  This 
island,  lying  in  the  midst  of  the  Cyclades,  which  offer  easy 
transit  between  Greece  and  Ionia,  was  in  early  times  an  impor- 
tant entrepot.  It  was  also  the  religious  centre  of  the  Ionian 
world,  famed  as  the  birthplace  of  Artemis  and  Apollo  and  for 
the  most  ancient  oracle  of  the  god.^  Every  fifth  year  the 
birth  of  the  twin  deities  was  celebrated  with  magnificence, 
amidst  a  great  concourse,  vividly  described  in  the  ancient 
Hymn  to  Apollo :  "  Hither  gather  the  long-robed  lonians 
with  their  children  and  chaste  wives.  They  wrestle,  they 
dance,  they  sing  in  memory  of  the  god.  He  who  saw  them 
would  say  they  were  immortal  and  ageless,  so  much  grace  and 
charm  would  he  find  in  viewing  the  men,  the  fair-girdled 
women,  the  swift  ships,  and  riches  of  every  kind."  (See 
also  Thuc.  iii.  104.)  These  festivals  seem  to  have  been 
accompanied  by  contests  in  music  and  poetry.  The  temple, 
with  its  priceless  treasure  of  offerings,  was  not  touched  by 
the  Persians,  who  plundered  most  of  the  other  islands,  but 
the  Delian  festivals  seem  to  have  ceased  during  the  Persian 
supremacy.  They  were  revived  with  great  ostentation  by  the 
Athenians  of  the  Empire,  who  used  to  send  splendid  theorias 
in  the  sacred  Delian  galley  [Salaminia)  ;  but  this  revival 
was  of  short  duration,  for  Delos  had  lost  its  special  sanctity 
in  rivalry  with  Delphi,  and  the  centre  of  religious  life  for 
the  lonians  had  been  long  since  transferred  to  the  great  temple 
of  Artemis  at  Ephesus,  as  that  of  their  political  life  was 
transferred  to  the  pan-Ionian  assembly  on  Mount  Mycale. 

^  Homer  speaks  only  of  Apollo's  altar  in  Delos.  Excavation  has  revealed 
a  sanctuary  with  small  temples  of  Artemis,  Apollo,  I,eto,  and  Aphrodite — 
perhaps  built  on  the  site  of  the  great  ancient  temple.  Statues,  possibly  of 
Artemis,  have  been  discovered  (see  Fig.  50).  The  original  Delian  statue  of 
Apollo  was  said  to  have  been  brought  thither  by  Theseus  from  Crete. 

152 


46.  Site  of  Oi^ympia  and  Vai,k  of  the  Ai^pheios 


47.  Heraion,  Oi^ympia 


152 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

By  far  the  most  famous,  if  not  the  most  ancient,  pan-Hellenic 
assembly  was  that  held  at  Olympia,  where  Heracles  is  said  to 
have  consecrated  (c.  1200)  a  sanctuary  to  Zeus,  and  to  have 
founded  games  after  his  victory  over  Augeas,  king  of  Blis. 
Others  even  attribute  the  foundation  to  Pelops  (c.  1280) .  Tradi- 
tion asserts  that  the  games,  which  had  fallen  into  disuse, 
were  reinstituted  by  I^ycurgus  of  Sparta  and  Iphitus,  king 
of  Blis ;  ^  to  prove  which  was  shown  at  Olympia  the  discus 
of  Iphitus  inscribed  with  the  name  of  I^ycurgus.  Perhaps  it 
was  on  this  occasion  that  the  Eleans,  supported  by  Sparta, 
usurped  the  presidency  at  the  games,  held  till  then  by  the 
people  of  Pisa,  in  whose  territory  Olympia  lay,  and  to  whom, 
as  we  have  already  seen.  King  Pheidon  of  Argos  {c.  680)  for  a 
time  restored  their  rights.  During  the  seventh  century  all  the 
victors  were  Spartans,  Messenians,  and  Bleans,  so  that  it  seems 
as  if  the  games  were  confined  to  these  peoples.  After  the 
Messenian  wars  (c.  600)  we  find  competitors  from  other  Greek 
states,  and  later  many  of  the  most  celebrated  victors  came 
from  South  Italy,  Sicily,  and  other  parts  of  Hellas.  None  but 
pure  Hellenes  were  allowed  to  compete.  Foreigners  might  be 
spectators,  but  no  slave  nor  any  woman  was  allowed  to  be 
present.  2 

From  776  to  724  the  games  consisted  merely  of  a  foot-race  of 
about  three  hundred  yards.  I^onger  races  were  then  introduced, 
and  the  pentathlon  (a  fivefold  contest  in  running,  leaping, 
wrestling,  discus-  and  spear-throwing)  and  chariot-races,  and 
lastly  the  pancratium  (combined  boxing  and  wrestling).  The 
competitors  had  to  undergo  a  training  of  ten  months  and 
special  practice  for  a  month  at  Olympia  under  supervision,  and 
to  make  sacrifices  and  to  vow  that  they  would  compete  fairly. 
There  were  official  trainers  besides  the  judges  (hellanodicae) , 
who  awarded  the  prizes — wreaths  cut  with  a  golden  knife  from 
the  sacred  oHve-tree,  which,  it  was  said,  Heracles  had  planted. 

^  Traditional  date  884.  Others  give  776,  i.e.  the  year  of  the  victory  of 
Coroebus,  from  which  the  Olympiads  are  dated. 

*  Perhaps  no  married  women  ;  and  possibly  exceptions  were  made  with 
Spartan  women.  A  story  is  told  of  a  woman  being  detected  in  male  attire, 
but  as  her  son  was  victor  she  was  forgiven. 

IS3 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Marvellous  stories  were  told  of  the  feats  of  some  of  the 
victors.  The  distances  (fifty  feet  or  so)  covered  by  them  in 
leaping  seem  incredible,  but  how  they  used  the  halteres 
— i.e.  '  leaping  weights  '  held  in  the  hands  while  jumping — is 
unknown.  Of  activity  and  endurance  we  have  a  striking 
example  in  the  victor  of  the  nine-mile  race,  who  is  said  to  have 
continued  running  after  passing  the  goal,  and  to  have  reached 
Argos,  some  fifty  miles  distant,  on  the  same  evening. 

The  festival  took  place  every  fourth  year.  At  first  it 
was  limited  to  a  single  day  (probably  that  of  the  first  full 
moon  after  the  summer  solstice).  After  the  Persian  wars 
it  was  extended  to  five  days.  The  vast  multitudes  who  camped 
on  the  slopes  of  the  Mount  of  Cronos  and  the  sandy  hillocks 
between  the  beds  of  the  Alpheus  and  the  Cladeus,  and  who 
for  five  days  stood  in  dense  throngs  around  the  racecourse  and 
palaestra,  must  have  suffered  greatly  from  heat  and  drought — 
for  the  river-water  was  scanty  and  bad,  and  it  was  not  till  a 
late  age  that  a  reservoir  of  pure  water  was  made  by  the  wealthy 
Roman,  Herodes  Atticus.  No  wonder  that  special  sacrifices 
were  offered  to  Zeus  the  Averter  of  Flies  ! 

A  '  holy  truce  *  was  proclaimed  for  the  whole  month, 
during  which  all  warfare  was  forbidden  and  the  land  of  Elis 
was  considered  sacred. 

The  temenos,  or  sacred  precinct,  at  Olympia  was  called  the 
Altis.^  Within  it  stood  in  early  days  the  ancient  temple  of 
Zeus,  on  the  site  of  which  was  probably  afterwards  built  the 
wonderful  structure  for  which  Pheidias  made  his  famous 
statue,  and  where  the  equally  famous  chest  of  Cypselus  was 
kept.  Another  temple  contained  the  tomb  of  Pelops,  and 
very  ancient  stone  foundations  have  been  excavated  which 
are  believed  to  have  belonged  to  the  temple  of  Hera  and 
Zeus — an  edifice  of  sun-baked  brick  with  wooden  Doric  columns 
dating  from  perhaps  looo  (see  Fig.  47).  In  an  open  space 
of  the  Altis  stood  the  great  altar  of  Zeus,  and  outside  the  walls 
was  the  Stadion,  a  racecourse  about  two  hundred  yards  in 

*  Probably  the  Elean  form  of  aXaos,  a  sacred  grove.  The  Altis  was  a 
square  of  about  two  hundred  yards  each  way,  enclosed  by  great  walls. 

154 


THE   AGE    OF   COLONIZATION 

length.  Such  was  Olympia  in  the  age  of  lyycurgus,  and  also 
of  Pheidon  ;  but  in  time  the  old  buildings  were  replaced  by 
marble  temples,  and  many  other  magnificent  structures  arose 
within  and  without  the  Altis — halls  and  porticoes  and  treasure- 
houses.  More  than  eighty  altars  erected  to  the  various  deities 
testified  to  the  vast  numbers  of  the  worshippers,  who  came 
from  all  parts  of  Hellas ;  ^  the  avenues  were  lined  with  the 
statues  of  victorious  athletes,  and  both  within  and  without 
the  temples  were  erected  the  masterpieces  of  renowned  sculptors, 
such  as  the  Olympian  Zeus  of  Pheidias,  the  Victory  of  Paeonius, 
and  the  Hermes  of  Praxiteles.  2 

Even  in  the  sixth  century,  as  we  shall  see,  men  like 
Xenophanes  the  philosopher  spoke  disdainfully  of  the  glori- 
fication of  the  athlete.  Euripides,  too,  in  the  fragment  that 
survives  of  his  Autolycus,  calls  athletes  the  worst  of  all  the 
ills  of  Hellas,  and  Socrates,  one  of  the  hardiest  and  bravest 
of  soldiers,  spoke  of  such  men  with  contempt,  as  did  also 
Epameinondas. 

In  a  still  later  age — when  chryselephantine  statues  of 
royal  Macedonians  stood  in  the  Philippeion  at  Olympia — the 
games  degenerated  into  mere  professional  contests,  and 
Alexander  the  Great  himself  is  said  to  have  despised  '  athleti- 
cism.' Under  the  earher  Roman  emperors  the  Olympic  Games 
were  celebrated  with  great  magnificence,  but  were  abolished 
in  A.D.  394  by  Theodosius  I.  His  grandson,  Theodosius  II, 
had  all  the  temples  burnt.  But  many  a  splendid  ruin  still 
remained,  and  afforded  material  to  Christian  church-builders, 
as  well  as  to  Goths,  Slavs,  and  Turks.  At  last  the  great 
columns  and  pediments  of  the  temple  of  Zeus  were  overthrown 
by  an  earthquake.  Excavations  made  by  the  Germans 
about  1876  brought  to  light  not  only  old  foundations  and 
many  fragments  of  architectural  sculpture,  but  also  the  two 

^  As  one  might  infer  from  its  site  on  the  western  shores  of  Greece,  Olympia 
was  frequented  far  more  by  the  Greeks  of  Western  Hellas  than  by  those  of 
Ionia.  Out  of  the  twelve  treasure-houses  five  were  erected  by  Greeks  of 
Sicily  and  South  Italy,  one  by  Epidamnus,  one  by  Cyrene,  and  one  by 
Byzantium. 

*  See  Figs.  93, 112,  and  cow  10,  Plate  III. 


ANCIENT   GREECE 
statues  already  mentioned,   the  Hermes  and  the  Victory — 
both  of  them  original  masterpieces  by  great  Greek  artists. 
Of  these  and  of  the  sculptures  of  the  Zeus  temple  I  shall 
speak  again  later. 

Pan-Hellenic  festivals  with  athletic  and  sometimes  musical 
and  poetical  contests  were  held  also  at  Delphi,  at  Nemea, 
and  on  the  Isthmus.  For  all  of  them  great  antiquity  was 
claimed.  The  Isthmian  Games  were  said  to  date  from  the 
age  of  Theseus  and  Sisyphus,  the  Nemean  from  that  of  the 
Seven  against  Thebes,  while  Apollo  himself  was  said  to  have 
founded  the  Pythian  Games  at  Delphi.  But  very  little  is 
known  of  them  until  they  were  refounded — the  Isthmian 
festival,  in  honour  of  Poseidon,  possibly  by  Periander  of 
Corinth,  and  the  Nemean,  in  honour  of  Zeus,  by  the  Argives. 
These  festivals  were  biennial.  At  the  same  time  as  they  were 
reinstituted  (c.  580)  the  Pythian  Games  were  revived.  At  the 
original  Pythian  festival  there  were  probably  only  contests  in 
music  and  poetry.  The  great  temple  stood,  as  the  Homeric 
Hymn  to  Apollo  says,  "in  a  hollow,  rugged  glen  beneath  the 
overhanging  crags  of  snowy  Parnassus  " — a  site  very  unsuitable 
for  athletic  gatherings  and  horse-races.  Nor  did  the  god  himself 
seem  to  favour  such  things,  for  in  the  same  Hymn  the  poet 
protests  in  the  deity's  name  against  the  clatter  of  chariots  and 
horses  around  his  temple,  and  the  "  drinking  of  mules  at  the 
sacred  fountains."  But  when  an  arena  was  found  at  sufficient 
distance,  so  that  the  tumult  of  games  should  not  disturb  the 
sanctity  of  his  oracle,  Apollo  was  content  and  vouchsafed  his 
favour.  This  arena  was  the  plain  of  Cirrha,  or  Crissa,  lying 
between  Delphi  and  the  sea.  The  people  of  Crissa,  to  whom 
belonged  the  port  at  which  pilgrims  landed,  levied  heavy  dues 
and  otherwise  annoyed  the  people  of  Delphi,  who  had  control 
of  the  Delphic  shrine.  These  appealed  to  the  Amphictiony  ^ — 
a  religious  league  of  North  Grecian  states — which  espoused 
their  cause,  and  with  the  help  of  Cleisthenes  of  Sicyon,  after 

*  Amphictiones  means  'dwellers  around.'  The  league  was  probably  begun 
by  the  neighbours  of  a  shrine  of  Demeter  near  Thermopylae,  and  gradually 
grew  until  the  Amphictionic  Council  had  great  influence.     See  Diet.  Ant. 

is6 


!.  Vai,e  of  Tkmpe  and  Mouth  of  River  Penfios 


49.  Site  of  Dei^piii 


156 


M 


THE  AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

a  struggle  of  about  ten  years  (the  first  Sacred  War) ,  succeeded 
in  capturing  Crissa  (590).  They  razed  it  to  the  ground  and 
dedicated  the  Crissaean  plain  to  the  service  of  the  Delphian 
god  ;  and  on  this  plain  was  held  the  Pythian  festival,  which 
for  its  musical,  poetical,  and  artistic  contests,  as  well  as  for 
its  chariot-races,  became  scarcely  less  famed  than  that  of 
Olympia  itself.  French  excavators  have  brought  to  light  the 
remains  of  the  great  temple  and  of  about  six  others,  as  well  as  a 
theatre,  stadium,  and  gymnasium,  not  far  from  the  Castalian 
Fount,  and  the  paved  Sacred  Way  which  winds  up  the  huge 
stone  terraces  on  which  Apollo's  temple  stood.  This  Sacred 
Way  was  lined  by  treasure-houses  erected  by  many  of  the  chief 
cities  of  Greece,  and  was  once  filled  with  priceless  works  of 
art,  almost  all  of  which  have  naturally  disappeared,  for  Delphi 
was  the  prey  of  plunderers  during  many  ages.  Fine  architectural 
sculptures  have,  however,  been  recovered,  especially  some  that 
belonged  to  the  Athenian,  Sicyonian,  and  Cnidian  treasuries, 
and  also  numerous  statues,  offerings  to  the  Delphic  god.  Of 
these  the  most  remarkable  are  a  colossal  Sphinx  dedicated 
by  the  people  of  Naxos,  and  the  bronze  charioteer  (Fig.  74) 
which  was  probably  erected  as  a  thank-offering  for  victory  in 
a  chariot -race  by  Polyzalus,  the  brother  of  Hiero. 

SECTION  D  :   THE  POETS  (776-560) 

We  have  seen  how  by  the  time  of  Hesiod  the  old  monarchical 
and  feudal  feeling  had  largely  given  way  to  the  natural  yearn- 
ings for  personal  liberty  and  independent  thought,  and  how 
such  yearnings,  thwarted  by  the  rich  and  high-born  oppressor, 
found  vent  in  bitter  lament  and  the  cry  for  justice  and 
equality.  The  true  poet — who  ever  interprets  his  age — no 
longer  deigned  to  sing  the  praises  of  heaven-descended  princes. 
The  epic  bard,  or  rhapsode,  indeed,  still  existed,  and  the 
Cyclic  writers  (so  called  because  they  attempted  to  finish  the 
whole  cycle  of  the  legend  of  Troy)  supplied  him  with  material 
such  as  the  Sack  of  Ilion,  the  Cypria,  the  Little  Iliad,  and  the 
Telegoneia,  and  sometimes,  for  a  change,  with  mock-heroic 

157 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
parodies  of  the  Homeric  epic  such  as  the  Margites,  the  story 
of  a  booby-hero  who  "  knew  many  professions  but  knew  all 
badly/'  or  the  Batrachomyomachia,  the  '  Battle  of  the  Frogs 
and  Mice/  And  there  were  (as  there  are  in  most  ages)  poets 
who  wrote  religious  verse — hymns  for  festivals  of  the  gods, 
some  of  them,  such  as  the  *  Homeric  '  hymns  to  Apollo  and 
Demeter,  of  great  dignity  and  beauty.  But  all  this  was  a 
survival.  The  spirit  of  the  age  was  another,  and  poetry 
demanded  new  forms  in  which  to  sing  of  freedom  and  fatherland, 
love  and  friendship,  wisdom  and  virtue,  life  and  death. 

The  first  of  these  new  forms  was  elegiac  verse,  which  in  its 
original  home,  Caria  and  I^ydia,  was  of  a  dirge-like  character 
and  was  accompanied  by  mournful  flute-music.  But  the 
metre,  a  couplet  consisting  of  the  epic  hexameter  and  a  similar 
but  shorter  and  more  energetic  verse  with  two  emphatic 
monosyllables,  was  adopted  by  the  Greeks  for  their  war-songs, 
and  also  for  exhortatory  poetry  [viroOmai)  and  sententious 
maxims  {yvwimai),  and  for  the  expression  of  personal  feelings 
and  opinions  on  all  subjects  affecting  human  life.  Among  the 
elegiac  poets  of  this  age  the  chief  were  Callinus,  Tyrtaeus, 
Mimnermus,  and  Solon. 

The  second  form  was  iambic  verse,  generally  of  a  satiric 
character,  the  chief  writers  of  which  were  Semonides  of  Amorgos 
and  Archilochus. 

The  third  form  was  lyrical  verse.  These  early  lyrical 
poets  stand  on  a  level  immeasurably  higher  than  that  of  the 
elegiac  and  iambic  writers.  The  best  known,  though,  alas  ! 
by  repute  rather  than  from  what  has  survived  of  their  poetry, 
are  Sappho  and  Alcaeus,  with  whom  one  may  perhaps  venture 
to  associate  Alcman,  Arion,  and  Stesichorus. 

The  following  brief  accounts  of  these  poets  and  of  some  of 
their  surviving  works  may  prove  interesting.  Further  bio- 
graphical details  will  be  found  in  classical  dictionaries. 

(i)  Callinus  of  Ephesus  was  perhaps  the  inventor  of  the 
elegiac  couplet.  His  seems  to  have  been  mostly  war-poetry. 
Among  the  few  verses  of  his  that  are  extant  he  calls  upon  his 
countrymen  to  rouse  themselves  :    *'  How  long  will  ye  lie  idle, 

158 


THE   AGE   OF   COLONIZATION 

while  war  fills  all  the  world  ?  .  .  .  'Tis  honourable  and  glorious 
for  a  man  to  fight  for  his  fatherland,  his  children,  and  the 
wife  of  his  youth.  ...  It  is  not  possible  to  escape  one's 
destined  death.  .  .  .  Many  a  man  has  fled  battle  and  the  clash 
of  arms  only  to  return  to  his  home  and  find  there  the  doom 
of  death."  In  a  verse  preserved  by  Strabo  Callinus  exclaims  : 
**  Now  is  coming  the  host  of  the  Cimmerians,  those  doers  of 
terrible  deeds  !  "  It  is  therefore  probable  that  by  his  war-songs 
he  roused  the  Bphesians  against  these  savages,  who  (c.  678)  had 
captured  Sardis  and  killed  the  I^ydian  king  Gyges,  and  soon 
afterwards  burnt  the  temple  of  Artemis,  just  outside  the  walls 
of  Kphesus. 

(2)  Of  Tyrtaeus  {c.  660)  we  have  already  heard.     Whether 

^  he  was  really  an  Athenian,  or  whether  his  birthplace,  Aphidna 

in  I^aconia,  was  confused  with  Aphidna  in  Attica,  is  unknown. 

Fragments  survive  of  *  Tyrtaean  '  marching  songs  in  anapaestic 

measure — e.g. 

"Ayer'j  w  ^rrdpras  evdvSpov 
Kovpoi  iraTepoiv  TroXiarav    .   .   . 

— and  about  eighty  elegiac  couplets,  some  of  which  have  a 
splendid  swing,  such  as  : 

TeBvdfievai  yap  koKov  inl  7rpop.dxoi(n  Trea-ovra 
avBp*  dyaObv  Trepl  jj  irarplSi  fiapvdpevov   .   .   . 

Km  TToda  Trap  ttoSi  Bus  /cat  eV  d(nri8os  damld*  epfiaas  .  .  . 

The  language  is  almost  pure  Ionic,  not  Doric  ;  which  is 
trange  if  he  was  really  vSpartan.  Moreover,  his  poetry  (if 
t  is  his)  contains  numerous  lines  almost  identical  with  lines 

|;)f  Callinus,  so  that  some  hold  that  it  was  written  in  Ionia 
)y  some  Milesian  poet  and  attributed  to  Tyrtaeus.     Among 

:  Tyrtaean  elegiac  exhortations  (vTroOtiKai)  sue  some  fine  verses 

pncouraging  young  warriors  not  to  desert  their  elders  in  battle. 

r  What  a  foul  sight,"  the  poet  exclaims,  "  is  a  white-headed 
/arrior  lying  dead  in  the  front  ranks  !     But  in  the  youth 

i  verything  is  seemly  ;  he  is  handsome  alive  and  handsome  also 
/hen  fallen  in  the  van  of  the  battle."  Besides,  he  adds, 
ravery  is  the  best  policy  ;  the  bold  survive,  while  all  the  herd 

IS9 


ANCIENT   GREECE 

of  cowards  perishes.  Of  his  elegy  Eunomia  ('  Good  Order  ') 
about  thirty  Hnes  are  extant.  In  it  the  poet  calls  on  the  citizens  i 
to  avoid  dissension  and  to  respect  the  Pythian  oracle  as  the 
source  of  law  and  order.  He  mentions  the  "  god-honoured 
kings"  of  Sparta,  especially  Theopompus,  under  whose 
command,  after  nineteen  years,  "  we  conquered  Messenia, 
good  to  plough  and  good  to  plant."  Another  fragment 
(possibly  genuine)  depicts  vividly  a  well-known  characteristic  of  i 
the  Spartans  :  "  The  love  of  money  and  naught  else  shalli 
ruin  Sparta.  .  .  .  Thus  hath  golden-haired  Apollo  prophesied! 
from  his  rich  shrine." 

(3)  The  poetry  of  Mimnermus  [c,  630)  is  of  a  more  personal 
character.  Some  of  it  is  addressed  to  Nanno,  a  flute-girl .! 
**  What  is  life,"  he  exclaims,  "  without  golden  Aphrodite  ?  " 
Old  age  is  a  terrible  thing  ;  its  doom  {kyip)  is  worse  than  that  of 
death,  destroying  both  eyes  and  mind.^  lyike  Horace  he  sings  ol 
the  joys  of  youth,  and  bids  one  gather  them  donee  virenti  canities 
abest.  Perhaps  more  interesting  than  his  views  on  this  subjed 
are  the  verses  in  which  he  tells  how  an  ancestor  of  his  drov( 
in  rout  the  phalanxes  of  I^ydian  horsemen  on  the  plain  of  the 
Hermus.  This  was  evidently  in  a  fight  between  the  people  o: 
Smyrna,  the  poet's  birthplace,  and  King  Gyges,  who  failed  t( 
take  the  city.  Three  generations  later  (c.  590)  Alyattes  o 
lyydia  captured  and  razed  Smyrna  (see  p.  149).  But  Mimnermu; 
probably  did  not  live  to  see  this  evil  day,  though  he  seem 
to  have  survived  to  the  manhood  of  Solon  (c.  600),  wh( 
answered  his  assertion  that  life  was  over  at  seventy  ^  b 
bidding  him  substitute  '  eighty.' 

(4)  When  Solon  was  in  Egypt,  says  the  grandfather 
Critias  in  Plato's  Timaeus,  he  heard  from  the  priests  (the  sam 
priests  who  told  him  that  the  Greeks  were  always  childrer 
the  wonderful  story  of  the  isle  Atlantis.  ''  Ay,"  adds  the  ol 
Critias,  "if  he  had  not  taken  up  poetry  as  a  mere  by-worl 
but  had  worked  at  it  earnestly  like  others  and  had  compose 

^  Perhaps  these  Kr^pes  of  Mimnermus  are  the  evil  spirits,  or,  as  Miss  Harrisc 
has  argued,  the  bacilli,  of  old  age  and  death.     See  p.  46. 

^  Strangely  enough,  Solon  in  his  Ten  Ages  gives  seventy  as  the  limit,  ar 
Herodotus  makes  him  give  the  same  in  his  conversation  with  Croesus. 
160 


l 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

a  poem  on  this  story  that  he  brought  from  Egypt,  instead  of 
having  been  obHged  to  neglect  it  on  account  of  all  the  political 
troubles  that  he  found  here  at  Athens,  I  believe  that  neither 
Hesiod  nor  Homer  nor  any  other  poet  would  have  been  more 
famous." 

In  spite  of  Critias,  or  even  of  Plato  himself,  it  is  not  easy  to 
believe  that  Solon  could  ever  have  been  a  great  poet.  But  his 
verses  are  often  exceedingly  eloquent  and  forcible,  and  on 
account  of  his  great  reputation  as  statesman  and  sage  they 
are  of  supreme  interest.  In  an  age  when  writing  was  still  a 
rare  accomplishment  and  one  had  to  trust  mainly  to  the 
living  voice  those  who  had  anything  to  say  and  who  wished 
to  impress  it  on  the  memory  of  their  hearers  chose  a  rhythmical 
form — which,  after  all,  is  the  natural  mode  of  expression  for 
the  emotions,  and  far  less  artificial  than  literary  prose. ^  Even 
laws,  it  is  said,  were  anciently  published  in  rhythmical  language, 
and  not  only  sages  such  as  Solon  and  Bias  (who  wrote  a  poem  of 
two  thousand  lines),  but  also  many  of  the  earlier  philosophers, 
as  Parmenides,  Heracleitus,  Xenophanes,  Empedocles,  and 
perhaps  even  Thales  himself,  expressed  their  doctrines  in  verse 
— a  method  which,  as  the  magnificent  De  Rerum  Natura  of 
I^ucretius  in  a  later  age  proved,  allows  the  imagination  its 
sublimest  flights,  but  which  might  have  its  disadvantages 
for  writers  on  what  is  nowadays  called  philosophy.  The 
extant  verses  of  Solon  are  (a)  eight  lines  of  his  celebrated 
verses,  originally  a  hundred,  about  Salamis  ;  (b)  Exhortations 
to  the  Athenians ;  (c)  Exhortations  to  himself ;  (d)  some 
trochaic  and  iambic  verses. 

The  sense  of  his  lines  about  Salamis  is  as  follows  :  "I 
came  myself  as  a  herald  from  lovely  Salamis,  having  composed 
an  order  [series]  of  verses  instead  of  a  set-speech.  .  .  .  Would 
that  I  had  been  then  [when  we  gave  up  Salamis]  a  man  of 
Pholegandros  or  Sicine  [little  Aegaean  islands]  rather  than  an 

*  Aesop  (c.  570)  should  here  be  mentioned.  If  he  wrote  his  Fables  in  verse, 
as  is  probable,  they  were  known  later  only  in  a  prose  version  ;  for  Socrates, 
when  in  prison,  bidden  by  the  god  to  "  make  his  life  more  musical,"  versified 
some  of  them. 

L  161 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Athenian,  for  swiftly  this  report  might  be  spread  abroad  : 
This  is  an  Attic  man — one  of  the  Salamis-abandoners." 

In  his  Exhortations  to  the  Athenians  he  eloquently  describes 
the  ruin  brought  on  a  city  which  loves  injustice — how  its  poor 
are  sold  into  slavery  and  not  even  the  courtyard  doors  keep  out 
disaster  from  a  man's  home.  He  sings  of  Order  and  Disorder, 
and  of  feuds  between  rich  and  poor.  *'  I  stood  holding  before 
both  a  mighty  buckler,  nor  did  I  let  either  win  unjustly."  "  It 
is  hard,"  he  says,  "  to  please  all  in  great  undertakings."  He 
speaks  of  the  Demos,  and  how  it  best  obeys  its  leaders  when 
not  given  too  loose  a  rein  nor  held  in  too  tight ;  and  he  addresses 
a  remark  to  this  same  Demos  which  shows  how  thoroughly 
he  understood  its  nature  :  "  Each  one  of  you  singly  treadeth 
in  the  tracks  of  the  fox  [is  foxish  in  cunning],  but  when  ye 
are  all  together  the  mind  within  you  is  a  gaping  gooselike 
thing  ;  for  ye  pay  regard  to  the  tongue  and  the  word  of  any 
wheedling  flatterer  and  look  not  at  all  to  what  is  being 
done." 

The  Exhortations  to  himself  contain  many  wise  saws  and 
maxims — e.g.  "  Wealth  is  good,  but  not  when  ill-acquired  "  ; 
"  God  is  a  righteous  judge,  not  quick  to  anger  as  a  man." 

A  very  interesting  fragment  is  his  Ten  Ages,  in  which  he 
depicts  with  almost  Shakespearean  art  the  state  of  man  at 
every  seventh  year  of  his  life — from  the  child  of  seven  shedding 
his  first  teeth  to  the  septuagenarian  ''ripe  to  receive  his  destined 
doom  of  death,"  an  expression  inconsistent  with  his  answer  to 
Mimnermus.  He  probably  lived  eighty  years  himself,  and  one 
of  his  finest  sayings  was,  "  I  grow  old  ever  learning  many 
things." 

Of  historical  interest  (if  genuine)  are  the  lines  that  he 
addressed  to  Philocyprus,  the  Gyprian  prince,  bidding  him 
farewell,  and  wishing  him  long  life  at  his  new  city,  Soli  (see 
p.  141). 

Among  the  fragments  of  his  trochaic  tetrameters  there  is  a 
rather  amusing  passage  in  which  he  pretends  to  quote  public 
criticism  of  the  fact  that  he  followed  the  example  of  Pittacus 
rather  than  that  of  Periander  "  Solon,"  he  says,  "  was  a 
162 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

man  of  no  deep  wisdom  or  judgment,  for  when  God  gave 
him  good  things  he  would  not  accept  them,  and,  having 
enclosed  his  catch,  became  nervous  and  did  not  haul  his  big 
net  to  land.  If  /  had  got  hold  of  such  power  and  boundless 
wealth,  even  if  I  had  been  tyrant  of  Athens  for  a  single  day, 
I  should  have  been  willing  to  be  flayed  to  make  a  wine-skin  and 
have  all  my  family  exterminated." 

In  his  iambics  he  gives  a  most  interesting  account  of  how 
he  released  debtors  and  recalled  those  who  had  been  sold  into 
foreign  slavery. 

(5)  Horace  says  that  '*  fury  armed  Archilochus  with  his 
own  iambus."  Doubtless  iambic  rhythm  (which  in  some 
languages,  such  as  English,  is  the  natural  rhythm  of  emotional 
language)  existed  before.^  It  is  found,  for  instance,  in  the 
Margites,  sometimes  attributed  to  Homer,  and  it  was 
probably  used  in  chants  at  Demeter  mysteries  and  other  reli- 
gious ceremonies  ;  whence  perhaps  Archilochus  borrowed  it,  for 
his  father  was  a  priest  of  Demeter,  and  he  himself  won  the 
prize  for  a  hymn  to  the  goddess.  But  possibly  the  iambic 
trimeter  (the  metre  used  by  the  great  Greek  dramatists)  was 
invented  by  this  poet  of  Paros,  who  used  it  with  dire  effect, 
it  is  said,  in  his  scathing  satires  against  lyycambes  and  his 
daughters.  From  fragments  of  his  poems  (which  comprised 
elegiacs,  iambics,  trochaic  tetrameters,  and  also  combinations 
of  various  rhythms,  imitated  by  Horace  in  his  Epodes)  it  seems 
that  he  visited  Southern  Italy,  for  he  speaks  of  the  '*  streams 
of  the  Siris,  more  lovely  than  Thasos,"  Also  he  mentions 
Euboea,  and  describes  the  Kuboean  mode  of  fighting  :  "  not 
much  bending  of  bows  nor  many  slings,  but  the  terrible  work 
of  the  sword  "  ;  so,  perhaps,  he  took  part  in  the  lyelantine  war 
of  Chalcis  and  Bretria  (p.  128).  He  joined  an  expedition  to 
Thasos  made  by  the  Parians,  attracted  by  the  gold-mines  of 
that  island  and  of  the  opposite  Thracian  mainland  ;  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  unsuccessful.     He  speaks  of  Thasos  with 

*  The  essential  difference  between  the  hexametric  and  iambic  rhythms  con- 
sists in  the  fact  that  the  spondee  (or  dactyl)  is  in  equipoise,  its  two  parts 
balancing  each  other  and  producing  a  smooth  onward  motion,  whereas  the 
trochee  or  iambus  ("^  or  ^~)  causes  an  agitated,  up-and-down  movement. 

163 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

dislike  as  a  bare,  rocky  ridge  "  like  a  donkey's  back."  In  a 
fight  with  Thracians  he  lost  his  shield  (a  fact  that  probably 
accounts  for  a  similar  story  about  Alcaeus,  and  certainly 
accounts  for  the  imaginative  loss  of  Horace's  shield  at 
PhiHppi).     His  lines  on  the  subject  may  be  thus  rendered  : 

Some  Thracian's  doubtless  chuckling  o'er  an  unexpected  find — 
A  brand-new  shield,  which  much  against  my  will  I  left  behind. 
Well,  anyhow,  I  saved  my  life.     The  shield  may  go  to  pot  I 
Another  and  a  better  one  can  easily  be  got. 

More  important  for  the  chronologist  is  the  fact  that,  perhaps 
while  he  was  in  Thasos,  he  witnessed  a  solar  eclipse,  for  this 
gives  us  the  first  quite  certain  date  in  Greek  history,  viz. 
April  8,  648.  "  Nothing,"  he  says,  "  is  incredible  and  impossible 
any  longer,  since  Zeus  created  night  at  noonday,  hiding  the 
light  of  the  blazing  sun  ;  and  pale  dread  fell  upon  mortals. 
Henceforth  all  things  can  be  believed  and  expected.  I^et  none 
wonder  even  if  the  beasts  of  the  forest  exchange  with  dolphins 
and  dwell  in  the  briny  realms,  and  the  resounding  billows 
become  dearer  to  them  than  the  dry  land,  while  the  mountains 
delight  those  others."  Possibly  there  is  reference  here  to  his 
former  love  for  the  fair  Neobule,  I/ycambes'  daughter,  now 
changed  into  the  bitterest  disdain. 

But  of  all  that  has  survived  of  Archilochus  the  lines  are 
the  finest  in  which  he  addresses  his  own  soul,  as  Odysseus 
does  in  the  Odyssey.  "  Soul,  soul,  storm-tossed  by  desperate 
cares,  come  forth  and  defend  thyself  breast-foremost  'gainst 
thy  foes,  and  station  thyself  in  safety  anigh  the  ambush  of 
the  enemy.  And  if  victorious,  triumph  not  openly,  nor,  if 
conquered,  fall  on  thy  face  in  thy  house  and  lament,  but  rejoice 
in  all  that  is  joyous  and  vex  not  thyself  too  much  because  of 
evil  men,  remembering  that  such  is  the  way  of  mortals."  Words 
like  these  and  a  line  such  as 

Gyges  with  all  his  golden  wealth  is  naught  to  me, 

come  like  a  breath  of  fresh  air  across  all  the  long  ages  of  dusty, 
dreary  warfare  and  politics  that  so  often  form  the  main  subject 
of  history. 
164 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

(6)  Semonides,  called  also  Simonides,  probably  from  being 
confused  with  the  later  poet  of  that  name,  was  a  Samian  by 
birth,  but  migrated,  perhaps  as  oekist  of  a  Samian  colony, 
to  the  little  island  of  Amorgos.  I^ike  Archilochus,  he  used  the 
iambic  trimeter  for  satire ;  but  his  satire  was  not  directed  against 
individuals,  and  his  only  extant  complete  poem,  in  spite  of  some 
very  caustic  passages,  is  quite  Horatian  in  its  playful  humour. 
This  poem,  which  is  of  about  a  hundred  lines,  describes  the 
creation  of  ten  different  kinds  of  women — the  dirty  from  the  pig, 
the  sly  from  the  fox,  the  shameless  and  inquisitive  from  the 
dog,  the  stupid  from  earth,  the  unstable  from  water,  the  obsti- 
nate from  the  donkey,  the  thievish  from  the  cat,  the  coquettish 
from  the  horse,  the  mischievous  from  the  monkey,  and,  lastly, 
the  good  and  industrious  from  the  bee.  The  last  he  describes 
with  as  much  enthusiasm  as  Solomon  himself,  and  a  couplet 
of  his  preserved  by  Clement  of  Alexandria  repeats  almost  word 
for  word  Hesiod's  assertion  that  "nothing  can  a  man  win 
better  than  a  good  woman,  or  worse  than  a  bad  one/'  Some  of 
the  pictures  in  this  poem  of  Semonides  are  exceedingly  vivid — 
such  as  that  of  the  coquette,  who  will  take  no  share  in  household 
duties,  but  sits  afar  from  the  hearth,  fearing  the  soot,  and 
performs  her  ablutions  and  anointings  twice  or  even  three 
times  daily,  and  "  carries  on  her  head  a  deep  mane  of  hair 
all  combed  out  and  overshadowed  with  flowers — a  pretty  sight 
indeed  for  others,  but  to  her  lord  and  master  a  misfortune, 
unless  he  be  some  tyrant  or  sceptre-bearing  king  who  delights 
in  such  things." 

(7)  Alcman  was  born  at  Sardis,  in  I^ydia,  but  his  father 
was  probably  Greek.  How  he  came  to  Sparta  is  unknown. 
Either,  like  Terpander,  he  was  invited  thither,  or  he  came 
originally  as  a  slave  and  gained  his  freedom  and  civic  honours 
by  his  poetry.  He  is,  according  to  the  canon  of  the  Alexandrine 
grammarians,  the  first  Greek  lyric  poet.  His  language  is  the 
old  lyaconian  dialect.  He  wrote  hymns,  love-  and  war-songs, 
and  Parthenia  (songs  for  Spartan  maidens),  all  of  which 
seem  to  have  been  true  songs  and  of  a  far  higher  poetic  value 
than  the  verses  of  Tyrtaeus.     The  form,  too,  of  his  poems 

165 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
is  very  different  from  that  of  the  elegiac  and  iambic  poets. 
They  consist  of  short  hnes,  mostly  trochaic  and  dactylic, 
arranged  in  strophes  and  antistrophes — a  system  invented  by 
him,  amplified  by  Stesichorus  and  Pindar,  and  adopted  by 
the  Attic  dramatists  for  their  choral  odes — in  which  also  the 
Doric  dialect  is  often  used.  He  lived  about  670-600,  and  was 
thus  probably  a  contemporary  of  Tyrtaeus. 

Of  his  poetry  numerous  fragments  remain.  Of  these  the 
most  important  was  discovered  (written  on  papyrus)  in  Egypt 
about  sixty  years  ago.  It  is  a  Parthenion,  meant  to  be  sung 
by  virgins  at  the  festival  of  Artemis  Orthia  (see  p.  loi).  There 
are  also  four  hexameters  of  great  beauty,  addressed  in  old  age 
to  the  Spartan  maidens.  He  laments  that  he  can  no  longer 
take  part  in  their  songs  and  dances  and  wishes  he  were  some 
bright-coloured  sacred  sea-bird  *'  that  over  the  foam  of  the 
sea  with  dauntless  heart  amid  the  halcyons  flies.''  His  lines 
descriptive  of  the  stillness  of  night  have  all  the  vividness, 
if  not  the  pathos,  of  Goethe's  Ueber  alien  Gipfeln  ist  Ruh'. 

(8)  Arion  {c.  625)  was  a  native  of  lyesbos,  which  he  left 
probably  early,  before  the  days  of  Alcaeus  and  Sappho.  He 
spent  most  of  his  life  at  the  court  of  Periander  of  Corinth,  where 
he  became  famous  as  a  minstrel  and  song- writer.  According 
to  Herodotus,  as  well  as  Aristotle,  he  was  *'  the  first  to  invent 
the  dithyramb  measure."  More  probably  he  adapted  the 
rough  measures  and  boisterous  ribaldry  of  the  old  Cyclic, 
or  dithyramb,  chorus,  sung  at  vintage  dances  in  honour  of 
Dionysus.  There  is  nothing  of  Aiion's  poetry  extant,  although 
the  historian  Aelian  (third  century  a.d.)  quotes  verses  in  which 
Arion  himself  is  supposed  to  give  an  account  of  his  rescue  by 
the  dolphin.  Aelian  also  appeals  to  the  inscription  on  the 
bronze  statue  of  Arion  and  his  dolphin  erected  on  Cape  Taenarus 
to  prove  the  truth  of  that  account ;  and  perhaps  there  is 
more  truth  in  the  story  than  we  believe.  Pliny  tells  of  a 
dolphin  (porpoise)  who  used  to  carry  a  boy  to  and  from 
school  every  day  across  the  bay  of  Baiae. 

(9)  Stesichorus  {c.  632-556)  was  born  at  Himera,  in  Sicily. 
One  tradition  asserts  that  he  was  a  son  of  Hesiod.  He  incurred 
166 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

the  hostility  of  the  notorious  tyrant  Phalaris  and  fled  to 
Catane,  where  he  died.  His  tomb  gave  the  name  to  one  of 
the  city  gates.  This  name,  Stesichorus,  he  is  said  to  have 
received  in  addition  to  his  original  name  Tisias  because  he 
was  famed  as  an  '  arranger  of  choruses.'  He  is  said  to  have 
brought  the  lyric  art  to  perfection  in  language  and  rhythm, 
but  the  bulk  of  his  writings  seems  to  have  been  on  epic  subjects 
— the  old  Trojan  and  Orestean  legends  and  the  myths  about 
Heracles.  Of  these  poems  numerous  fragments  survive,  but 
they  are  of  little  interest  except  the  first  three  lines  (preserved 
for  us  by  Plato)  of  the  celebrated  Palinode  with  which  Stesi- 
chorus atoned  for  having  slandered  Helen  of  Troy  and  thus, 
it  is  said,  recovered  his  eyesight :  "  It  is  not  true — that  story. 
Thou  didst  never  embark  on  well-benched  ships  nor  reach 
the  battlements  of  Troy."  It  was  not  Helen  herself  that 
Paris  carried  off,  but  only  a  phantom — that  '  double  '  of 
Helen  which  plays  a  part  in  Greek  legend  and  literature  and 
is  intimated  in  the  beautiful  episode  of  the  Helena  in  Goethe's 
Faust. 

(id)  Alcaeus  {c.  645-580)  belonged  to  a  noble  family  of 
Mytilene  in  I^esbos.  He  took  part  against  the  tyrant  Myrsilus, 
and  after  the  defeat  of  the  lycsbians  by  the  Athenians  at 
Sigeum  (in  defence  of  which  stronghold  he  distinguished 
himself — and  perhaps  lost  his  shield)  he,  as  well  as  his  brother 
and  many  others  of  the  aristocratic  party,  went  into  exile 
{c.  596).  He  seems  to  have  been  for  some  time  in  Egypt, 
where  Apries  (Hophra)  was  reigning  and  Naucratis,  the  Greek 
settlement,  was  already  a  flourishing  town.  Hither,  too, 
perhaps  with  Alcaeus,  came  Charaxus,  the  brother  of  Sappho — 
and  possibly  even  Sappho  herself.  The  brother  of  Alcaeus 
took  service  under  Nebucadnezar,  and  may  have  been  at  the 
sack  of  Daphnae  (see  p.  144),  but  probably  he  returned  with 
the  poet  to  Mytilene.  Here  Alcaeus  violently  opposed  the 
democratic  party,  and  when  Pittacus  (c.  590)  was  made 
dictator  (p.  128)  he  was  imprisoned  ;  but  the  wise  Pittacus 
seems  to  have  forgiven  him,  and  probably  the  two  became 
friends.     A  true  and  tender  friendship  existed  also  between 

167 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Alcaeus  and  Sappho,  who  was  the  younger  by  a  few  years. 
His  poetry  breathes  passionate  emotion.  He  sings  of  gods 
and  of  men,  of  war  and  arms,  of  love  and  wine.  In  verses  still 
extant  he  describes  the  ship  of  the  state  (a  picture  copied  by 
Horace)  tossed  on  the  waves,  rolling  to  and  fro  with  sails 
rent  and  the  water  rising  ever  higher  in  the  hull.  Two  lines 
survive  addressed  to  Sappho :  "  O  violet- weaving,  holy, 
sweetly  smihng  Sappho,  I  wish  to  say  something  to  thee,  but 
shame  prevents  me."  Of  all  his  poems  (ten  books  of  which 
once  existed)  we  have  but  these  lines  and  a  few  other  fragments. 
Many  of  his  odes  were  written  in  the  measure  (a  stanza  of  four 
lines)  invented  by  him,  and  named  after  him — a  measure 
well  known  from  Horace's  translations  and  imitations  of  the 
Aeolian  bard  ;  known  also  to  English  readers  from  Tennyson's 
fine  stanzas  addressed  to  Milton. 

(ii)  Sappho,  like  Alcaeus,  was  a  I^esbian,  and  had  her  home 
at  Mytilene  ;  but  for  some  years  (c.  596-590)  she  too  lived 
in  exile,  perhaps  in  Sicily — possibly  also  at  Naucratis.  At 
Mytilene  her  house,  which  she  named  '  The  Home  of  the  Muses,' 
was  the  gathering-place  of  many  literary  and  fashionable 
women,  and  as  I^esbos  was  at  this  time,  it  is  said,  rich  in  female 
writers,  some  of  whom  tried  to  found  schools  in  rivalry  of 
Sappho  and  her  ill-fated  friend,  the  poetess  Krinna,  jealousy 
and  calumny  were  inevitable.  Hence  doubtless  arose  the 
tales  that  sullied  her  good  name — tales  which  were  more 
readily  believed  by  the  Athenians  because  of  the  very  different 
ideas  that  prevailed  at  Athens  and  among  the  lycsbians  in 
regard  to  the  amount  of  social  freedom  allowable  to  women, 
lycss  intelligible  is  the  tale  that  relates  her  hapless  infatuation 
for  the  mythical  Phaon,  the  ugly  ferryman  who  was  rejuvenated 
and  beautified  by  Aphrodite,  and  her  fatal  leap  from  the 
lycucadian  precipice. 

Sappho's  poetry  has  the  exquisite  natural  grace  and  the 
delicate  but  distinct  outlines  of  the  finest  Greek  sculpture — 
such  sculpture  as  we  see  on  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon  or  on 
some  beautiful  Athenian  stele.  Both  in  thought  and  in  lan- 
guage it  offers  the  very  greatest  contrast  imaginable  to  what 
168 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

is  often  regarded  as  the  true  poetical  method  of  expressing 
deep  emotion.  It  affects  one  not  by  the  display  of  vehement 
passion,  but  by  impressing  on  one's  mind  a  picture  which 
haunts  the  memory  and  ever  afterwards  has  the  power  of 
stirring  one's  feelings  as  if  it  were  a  real  experience. 

Even  the  fragments  that  remain  of  her  nine  books  of  poems 
allow  us  to  accept  without  hesitation  the  judgment  of  ancient 
critics,  who  were  unanimous  in  their  almost  reverential  admira- 
tion. Among  these  surviving  fragments  are  three  probably 
complete  odes  in  her  favourite  measure,  invented  by  her  (or 
some  say  by  Alcaeus)  and  known  as  the  Sapphic.^ 

No  translation  can  give  any  hint  of  the  beauty  and  power 
of  her  language,  but  even  a  rough  prose  version  of  some  of 
these  relics  of  her  poetry  may  be  more  useful  and  interesting 
than  biographical  details  and  critical  comments.  First  let  us 
take  the  ode  to  Aphrodite  : 

*'  Immortal  Aphrodite  on  thy  throne  of  many  colours, 
daughter  of  Zeus,  weaver  of  wiles,  I  implore  thee,  break  not 
my  heart,  O  I^ady,  with  excess  of  love  and  of  anguish,  but  come 
hither,  if  ever  before  thou  heardest  from  afar  my  cries  and, 
leaving  the  golden  mansion  of  thy  father,  didst  yoke  thy 
:ar  and  come  ;  and  swiftly  thy  winsome  sparrows  brought  thee 
Dver  the  dark  earth,  eddying  their  rapid  wings,  from  heaven 
;hrough  the  midmost  aether ;  and  quickly  they  arrived,  and 
;hou,  O  blessed  one,  smiling  with  thy  divine  countenance, 
iidst  ask  what  ailed  me  now  again,  and  why  again  I  called  on 
:hee,  and  what  in  my  maddened  heart  I  wished.  Whom  dost 
hou  desire  that  Persuasion  should  bring  to  thy  friendship  P 
Vho  doeth  thee  wrong,  0  Sappho  ?  E'en  if  she  fleeth,  she  shall 
von  pursue  thee  ;  and  if  she  accepteth  not  gifts,  yet  shall  she  give 
hem  ;  and  if  she  loveth  not,  soon  shall  she  love — yea,  even  against 
■er  will.  Come  to  me  also  now,  and  set  me  free  from  grievous 
ares,  and  all  that  my  heart  longs  to  be  fulfilled  do  thou  fulfil, 
nd  be  once  more  my  helper  !  " 

^  Horace  used  the  Sapphic  metre  twenty-six  times  and  the  Alcaic  thirty- 
.  ^ven  times.     Probably  the  best  example  of  the  metre  in  English  is  Canning's 
Needy  Knife-grinder.' 

169 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
The  second  is  an  ode  that  was  discovered  not  many  years 
ago  among  the  papyrus  manuscripts  found  at  Oxyrhynchus, 
in  Egypt.  It  was  addressed  by  Sappho  to  her  brother 
Charaxus,  at  Naucratis,  where  he  is  said  to  have  disgraced 
himself  with  his  relations  by  falling  in  love  with  the  notorious 
Rhodopis,  who  was  a  slave-girl  (a  fellow-slave,  says  Herodotus, 
of  Aesop  the  fable- writer),  and  was  redeemed  by  Charaxus 
at  a  great  expense — for  which  he  was  "  often  lashed  by  Sappho 
in  her  poetry  "  : 

''  I  implore  you,  Sea-nymphs,  grant  that  my  brother  return 
hither  in  safety,  and  that  all  things  which  in  his  heart  he  may 
desire  be  fulfilled,  and  that  he  may  atone  for  all  the  errors 
of  the  past  and  become  a  joy  to  his  friends  and  a  sorrow  to 
his  enemies  ;  and  to  us  may  he  never  prove  of  no  account. 
And  may  he  wish  to  make  his  sister  share  in  his  good  name, 
and  may  he  forget  the  grievous  pain  of  what  in  days  past 
made  him  mourn  and  break  his  heart,  as  he  heard  at  some 
festival  of  the  citizens  a  wounding  word  that  cut  right  deep 
into  the  quick  and,  though  ceasing  for  a  time,  ere  long  returned 
again." 

The  third  ode,  also  in  Sapphic  measure,  gives  us,  without 
any  attempt  at  direct  description,  a  picture  of  a  beautiful 
maiden  beloved  by  Sappho : 

"  lyike  unto  the  gods  seemeth  to  me  that  man  who  sits  in 
thy  presence  and  nigh  unto  thee  listens  to  thy  sweet  voice  andn 
laughter,  which  ever  sets  a-throbbing  the  heart  within  my 
bosom.  For  when  I  look  e'en  for  a  moment  on  thee,  no  voice 
comes  any  more,  but  my  tongue  fails  utterly  and  a  soft  glow 
at  once  spreads  o'er  my  face,  and  I  see  no  more  with  my  eyes, 
and  my  ears  are  filled  with  sounds,  and  the  sweat  pours  dowr 
and  trembling  seizeth  all  my  body,  and  I  am  more  pallid  than 
grass  and  am  so  distraught  that  I  seem  nigh  unto  deatl 
itself." 

Another  short  poem,  in  a  different  metre,  intimates  by  i 
different  poetical  process,  and  again  without  any  direc 
170 


THE    AGE    OF    COLONIZATION 

i  description,  the  loveliness  of  Sappho's  friend  Atthis,  who  had 
married  a  I^ydian  and  had  gone  with  him  to  Sardis : 

"  Now  amidst  I^ydian  women  she  shineth  in  her  beauty 
as,  whene'er  the  sun  is  set,  the  rosy  moon,  having  round  her  all 
the  stars,  spreads  abroad  her  light  o'er  the  briny  sea  alike 
and  o'er  the  flowery  fields  ;  and  the  dew  lies  there,  beautiful, 
and  roses  revive  and  bloom,  and  fragile  chervil  and  rich- 
blossoming  melilot." 

A  very  different  woman  is  pictured  in  another  fragment : 

"  When  thou  art  dead  thou  shalt  lie  there,  and  never  shall 
there  be  any  remembrance  of  thee  nor  any  longing  for  thee 
in  days  to  come,  for  thou  hast  no  share  in  the  roses  of  Pieria 
[poetry  and  music],  but  when  thy  soul  has  flown  forth,  also  in 
the  mansion  of  Hades  unnoticed  thou  shalt  flit  about  with  the 
dim  inglorious  dead." 

Many  other  beautiful  fragments  of  Sappho's  poetry  survive. 
Well-known  lines  of  Byron  were  evidently  inspired  by  her 
address  to  the  evening  star  :  "  O  Hesperus  that  bringest 
back  all  things  which  the  gleaming  dawn  dispersed,  thou 
bringest  the  sheep,  thou  bringest  the  goat,  thou  bringest  the 
boy  back  to  his  mother." 

A  graphic  picture  of  autumn  is  given  in  a  few  words  :  "  All 
round  it  pipeth  chill  amidst  the  orchard  boughs  ;  the  leaves 
are  quivering  and  the  foliage  falls."  Another  touch  of  autumn, 
recalHng  Coleridge's  "  one  red  leaf  on  the  topmost  twig,"  is 
given  in  what  may  be  the  fragment  of  some  marriage-song  : 
"  As  a  sweet  apple  blusheth  on  the  tip  of  the  branch,  on  the 
topmost  tip,  and  the  apple-pickers  have  forgotten  it — nay, 
have  not  forgotten  it,  but  have  been  unable  to  reach  it." 

Among  the  many  papyrus  manuscripts  yet  undeciphered  or 
undiscovered  we  may  have  the  fortune  to  come  upon  more  of 
Sappho's  poetry.  Indeed,  it  was  lately  reported  that  some- 
thing more  had  been  found.  Were  enough  to  come  to  light 
to  influence  modern  literature,  the  gain  would  be  inestimable, 
for  the  great  qualities  of  Sappho's  poetry  are  just  what  modern 
literature  lacks  most. 

171 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  AGE   OF    PEISISTRATUS    AND   THE 

RISE    OF    PERSIA 

(560-500) 

SECTIONS :  POETS  AND  PHIIvOSOPHERS  :  THE  ORDERS  OP  GREEK 
ARCHITECTURE  :  SCUIvPTURE,  DOWN  TO  THE  PERSIAN  WARS 

TO  the  student  of  comparative  politics  the  history  of 
Athens  from  560  to  500  is  especially  attractive,  for 
during  this  period,  while  the  democratic  constitution 
framed  by  Solon  still  continued  to  exist,  as  Thucydides  says, 
in  its  essential  features,  the  state  was  for  many  years  under 
the  absolute  control  of  a  single  man  and  his  heirs,  who,  although 
the  power  was  seized  by  the  usual  methods,  may  be  regarded 
rather  as  constitutional  rulers  than  as  despots.  That  Athens 
for  a  time  lost  her  liberty  and  emerged  from  the  trial  stronger 
and  better  prepared  to  face  the  foe  of  Hellas  cannot  but  be  of 
deep  interest,  but  the  phenomena  of  political  evolution  form 
by  no  means  the  main  subject  of  Greek  history.  Such  pheno- 
mena are  due  to  ever-recurring  influences  working  on  average 
human  nature,  and  they  may  be  traced  under  various  conditions 
in  the  stories  of  many  another  nation ;  ^  but  genius  has  ever 
something  new  to  tell  us,  and  from  Greek  genius  we  may  learn 
what  we  cannot  learn  from  any  other  source.  I  shall  therefore 
content  myself  with  giving  a  brief  account  of  the  reign,  or 
tyranny,  of  Peisi stratus  and  his  sons  and  of  the  reforms  of 
Cleisthenes,  and  shall  reserve  more  of  the  space  at  my  disposal 
for  matters  of  greater  importance. 

When  Solon  returned  to  Athens  (c.  562)  dissension  was  at 

*  By  a  strange  coincidence  the  same  year  (510)  saw  the  banishment  of  the 
Tarquins  from  Rome  and  of  the  Peisistratidae  from  Athens. 

172 


50.  '  Artemis  of  Dei.os  * 


51.  Stei^k  of  Aristion 


172 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

its  height,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that,  finding  his  influence 
of  no  avail,  he  again  left  for  the  East  and  visited  Croesus, 
who  ascended  the  throne  of  I^ydia  in  560.  In  this  same  year 
Peisistratus,  the  cousin  of  Solon,  and  the  leader,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  the  so-called  party  of  the  Hills,  consisting  mainly  of 
peasants  and  ultra-democrats,  persuaded  the  people  by  means  of 
a  stratagem  ^  to  allow  him  a  bodyguard,  and  seized  the  Acro- 
polis. Hereupon  his  political  opponents  left  Athens,  and 
he  seems  to  have  quietly  assumed  the  reins  of  government 
and  to  have  remained  in  power  for  about  five  years.  Solon, 
when  again  in  Athens,  is  said  to  have  appealed  to  the  people 
to  "  pluck  the  tyrant  up  by  the  roots,'*  but  in  vain.  Some 
relate  that  he  returned  to  his  friend  the  king  of  Soli,  in 
Cyprus,  but  from  his  verses  to  Mimnermus  (if  they  are 
his)  it  seems  likely  that  he  remained  at  Athens  and  lived 
till  c.  558,  and  found  life  at  eighty  not  unenjoyable,  even 
under  a  despot. 

Two  or  three  years  later  Peisistratus  was  driven  out  by  the 
united  parties  of  the  Coast  and  the  Plain,  but  they  quarrelled, 
and  by  the  aid  of  Megacles  he  returned  (c.  550) .  The  stratagem 
by  which  this  was  effected  would  be  incredible  if  we  did  not 
know  how  ineradicable  proved  the  old  deisidaimonia — that 
eerie  dread  of  the  supernatural  which  was  so  universal  in  an 
earlier  age,  and  to  which  the  Athenians  seem  to  have  been 
especially  susceptible.  The  story  is  that  Peisistratus  entered 
Athens  in  a  chariot  on  which  there  stood  by  his  side  a  stalwart 
peasant  woman  arrayed  as  Athene,  and  that  the  mob  accepted 
the  apparition  as  genuine  and  reinstated  him  in  power.  Peisis- 
tratus had  promised  to  marry  the  daughter  of  Megacles 
(who  was  the  head  of  the  Alcmaeonid  nobles),  and  he  did  so, 
but  he  refused  to  treat  her  as  his  wife,  for  he  had  a  family 
by  a  former  wife  and  was  unwilling  to  connect  himself  with 
descendants  of  Cylon,  who  were  regarded  as  accursed.  This 
led  to  his  second  banishment,  which  lasted  for  ten  years, 

*  By  displaying  self-inflicted  wounds.  We  have  a  similar  story  connected 
with  Sextus  Tarquin,  and  with  Odysseus  {Od.  iv.  244).  The  grant  of  a  body- 
guard was  proposed  to  the  Kcclesia  by  Aristion,  whose  portrait  we  probably 
have  in  Fig.  51. 

173 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

until  about  540,  when,  with  mercenaries  from  Argos  and 
Naxos,  he  crossed  from  Euboea  to  Marathon,  surprised  or 
won  over  the  Athenian  troops  and  entered  the  city,  where  he 
re-estabHshed  himself  as  absolute  ruler,  sending  the  children 
of  his  adversaries  as  hostages  to  his  friend  Lygdamis,  tyrant 
of  Naxos,  and  expelling  the  Alcmaeonidae. 

The  rule  of  Peisistratus  during  the  next  thirteen  years  is 
said  to  have  been  wise  and  beneficial.  He  feued  much  of  the 
land  to  peasants,  encouraged  agriculture,  extended  Athenian 
power  and  commerce  abroad,  recapturing  Sigeuni  from 
the  lycsbians  and  promoting  Greek  influence  on  the  shores 
of  the  Hellespont,  where  the  Thracian  Chersonese  was  now 
governed  by  an  Athenian — the  half-uncle  of  the  famous 
Miltiades. 

About  this  elder  Miltiades  a  picturesque  story  is  told.  He 
was,  says  Herodotus,  a  victor  in  the  Olympian  chariot-race 
and  a  man  of  high  distinction,  but  an  adversary  of  Peisistratus. 
One  day  (c.  558)  as  he  sat  in  the  porch  of  his  house,  probably 
brooding  over  the  success  of  his  rival,  some  wayfarers  "in 
outlandish  garments  and  armed  with  lances"  approached. 
He  offered  them  entertainment,  and  after  the  banquet  was  over 
they  told  him  that  the  Delphic  oracle  had  bidden  them  take 
back  with  them  to  their  country,  the  Thracian  Chersonese, 
the  first  man  who  offered  them  hospitality,  for  he  would  help 
them  against  their  enemies.  Miltiades,  perhaps  glad  to  leave 
Athens,  acceded  to  their  entreaties  and  became  '  king '  of  the 
Chersonese  and  a  friend  of  Croesus.  He  was  succeeded  in 
his  office  as  Thracian  prince  and  Athenian  governor  of  the 
Greek  settlements  on  the  Hellespont  by  a  nephew,  who  was 
(c.  520)  succeeded  by  the  younger  and  more  celebrated 
Miltiades. 

Under  Peisistratus  Athens  seems  to  have  begun  to  assert 
that  hegemony  in  the  Ionic  world  which  she  afterwards 
attained.  The  lord  of  the  Ionian  mother-city  took  upon 
himself,  as  Thucydides  says,  to  '  purify '  Delos  by  removing  | 
all  the  tombs  within  sight  of  the  temple.  He  also  ordered  that 
the  Homeric  poems,  recited  at  the  Delian  and  other  festivals, 

174 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

should  be  collected  and  arranged  and  written  out  in  the  Attic 
script  and  divided  into  books.  Possibly  on  this  occasion 
lines  may  have  been  inserted  in  order  to  connect  Athens  with 
the  great  Ionian  epic — for,  whatever  the  reason  may  be.  Homer 
had  said  but  little  about  the  Athenians  and  their  legends. 
This  revision  of  Homer  was  undertaken  by  Peisistratus  and 
his  son  Hipparchus  in  order  to  regulate  the  hitherto  arbitrary 
and  disconnected  recitations  of  the  poem  at  the  great  festival 
of  Athene,  which  had  been  lately  founded.  At  this  festival 
took  place  the  musical  and  athletic  contests  and  the  stately 
procession  of  which  we  have  such  precious  records  in  the  so- 
called  Panathenaic  prize- vases  and  in  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon 
(see  Figs.  55  and  85). 

Besides  the  Panathenaic  festival  Peisistratus  revived  or 
amplified  the  vintage  festival,  which  had  been  held  from  early 
ages  in  honour  of  Dionysus  (the  lycnaia,  or  '  Festival  of  the 
Wine- vat '),  such  as  we  have  already  heard  of  in  connexion 
with  Arion  at  Corinth.  At  this  new  festival,  which  was 
called  the  Great  Dionysia,  the  old  dances  and  songs  performed 
originally  by  peasants  dressed  up  as  satyrs  were  in  course  of 
time  combined  with  dialogue  and  with  representations  of 
Did  legends,  and  this  '  goat-song '  performance  (rpayfjiS/a) 
ieveloped  little  by  little  into  the  Attic  drama.  The  chief 
bomposer  and  director  of  these  Dionysiac  performances  in 
:he  age  of  Peisistratus  was  Thespis,  who  is  often  spoken  of  as 
:he  father  of  Attic  tragedy.  He  is  said  to  have  first  introduced 
,  iialogue  and  to  have  himself  taken  the  part  of  the  actor  who, 
I  n  various  disguises  and  with  a  stained  or  masked  face,  con- 
versed with  the  chorus  of  dancers.  The  first  representation 
i)f  this  kind  at  the  New  Dionysia  is  said  to  have  taken  place 

n535. 

During  the  rule  of    Peisistratus  and   his  sons    the  huge 

f  emple  of  Olympian  Zeus  was  begun  and  many  fine  buildings 

i^ere  erected.     Some  of  these  will  be  described  later.     One 

'f  his  most  useful  works  was  a  system  of  pipes  by  which 

dhens  was   supplied  with  water,  possibly  from  the  Upper 

lissus,  or  more  probably  from  Kallirrhoe  ('  Fair-stream '),  a 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
natural  source  near  the  Ilissus  and  the  Olympieion,  to  the 
south-east  of  the  Acropolis.^ 

Peisistratus  died  in  527  and  left  the  government  to  his 
eldest  son,  Hippias,  while  the  second,  Hipparchus  (Hke  a 
King  Archon),  had,  perhaps  together  with  a  younger 
brother  Thessalus,  the  control  of  religious  festivals,  literary 
and  musical  contests,  and  the  like.^ 

For  thirteen  years  Athens  seems  to  have  enjoyed  an  unevent- 
ful prosperity  under  the  Peisistratidae.  We  know  really  next  to 
nothing  of  this  period,  except  that  Hippias  and  his  brother 
were,  like  the  Medici  of  Florence,  patrons  of  art,  and  thati 
Anacreon  and  Simonides  of  Ceos  visited  their  court.  Herodotus! 
speaks  of  them  as  oppressive  tyrants,  while  Thucydides,  whol 
was  related  to  the  Peisistratidae,  but  whose  judgment  was  not| 
likely  to  have  been  warped  by  prejudice,  asserts  that  they 
"  cultivated  virtue  and  intellect."  He  allows,  however,  thati 
'*  their  tyranny  proved  galling  at  last,"  and  that  Hippias! 
ultimately  proved  not  only  a  tyrant  but  a  traitor  to  his  country.i 

In  514  Hipparchus  was  assassinated  by  Harmodius  andi 
Aristogeiton.  He  had  conceived  an  infatuation  for  the! 
young  Harmodius,  and  having  been  repelled  he  insulted  the! 
vSister  of  the  youth,  refusing  her  as  a  *  basket-carrier '  in 
the  Panathenaic  procession.^  So  the  two  friends  planned  to 
kill  Hipparchus  and  his  brother  ;  "  but,  having  suspected,"  saysi 

1  Remains  of  the  water-pipes  of  Peisistratus  have  perhaps  been  discovered,' 
between  the  Pnyx  and  the  Areopagus.  KaUirrhoe,  sometimes  depicted  onj 
Athenian  vases,  changed  its  ancient  name,  as  Thucydides  tells  us  (ii.  15),! 
to  Enneakrounos  ('Nine  Fountains'),  after  the  natural  spring  had  been 
built  over  and  the  waters  were  collected  into  a  reservoir  furnished  with 
nine  distributing  pipes,  (Herodotus,  however,  speaks  of  it  as  Enneakrounos 
in  connexion  with  the  old  Pelasgic  inhabitants.)  The  spring  still  exists  and 
retains  its  ancient  name  (KalUrroi),  but  almost  every  trace  of  the  reservoii 
has  disappeared.  The  pools  formed  by  the  spring  are  now  used  by  Atheniani 
washerwomen. 

'  See  Thuc.  i.  20  and  vi.  54  sq.,  and  Hdt.  v.  55.  Also  the  pseudo-Plato  in 
his  Hipparchus  says  that  this  prince"  first  introduced  Homer  into  Greece." 
The  writer,  whether  Plato  or  not,  evidently  regarded  Hipparchus  as  the  chief 
ruler — a  belief  stigmatized  by  Thucydides. 

^  According  to  Herodotus  the  Gephyraean  family  to  which  Harmodius 
belonged  was  originally  Phoenician,  and  was  "  excluded  at  Athens  from  a 
number  of  privileges."  Perhaps  this  was  a  legal  ground  for  the  rejection  of 
the  girl. 

176 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

Thucydides,  '' that  information  had  been  given  to  Hippias  by 
their  accompHces,  they  abstained  from  attacking  him,  as  being 
forewarned,  and  as  they  wished  to  do  something  at  all  hazards, 
having  fallen  in  with  Hipparchus,  who  was  arranging  the 
Panathenaic  procession,  they  slew  him." 

Possibly  at  first  no  great  enthusiasm  was  excited  by  the 
act — or  else  it  was  suppressed  by  dread — but  not  many  years 
later,  after  the  expulsion  of  Hippias,  statues  were  erected  to 
the  Tyrannicides,  and  popular  songs,  such  as  the  well-known 
drinking-song  (skolion)  composed  by  the  otherwise  unknown 
Callistratus,  '  111  wreathe  my  sword  in  myrtle  bough,'  prove 
how  the  Athenians  had  learnt  to  detest  the  name  of  the 
Peisistratidae.  This  hatred  was  much  intensified  by  the 
tyrannical  conduct  of  Hippias  after  the  murder  of  his  brother. 
"  Being  now  in  greater  apprehension,"  says  Thucydides,  ''  he 
put  to  death  many  citizens,  and  also  kept  his  eye  on  foreign 
states  in  whatever  quarter  he  had  a  prospect  of  safe  retreat 
in  case  of  revolution."  Doubtless  among  these  foreign  states 
was  Persia. 

After  four  years  the  revolution  came.  The  exiled  Alc- 
maeonidae,  who  longed  to  return  to  Athens,  had  at  length 
succeeded  in  obtaining  the  aid  of  Sparta  in  the  following  way. 
The  great  temple  at  Delphi  had  been  burnt  down,  and  a  public 
subscription  through  the  whole  of  Greece  had  enabled  the 
Delphic  treasury  to  contract  for  its  reconstruction.  The  Alc- 
maeonidae  undertook  the  contract,  and,  using  marble  instead 
of  the  specified  poros,  rebuilt  the  temple  with  such  magnificence 
and  so  won  the  favour  of  the  Pythian  priests  that  whenever 
the  Spartans  came  to  consult  the  oracle  the  invariable  answer 
was,  "  First  liberate  Athens  !  "  Sparta,  by  the  conquest  of 
Tegea  and  the  defeat  of  Argos,  had  made  herself  the  head  of  a 
'  Peloponnesian  league,  and  was  strong  enough  to  interfere  in 
1  Northern  Greece.  The  first  raid  into  Attica  was  defeated  by 
cavalry  sent  from  Thessaly  to  aid  Hippias,  but  the  Spartan 
I  king  Cleomenes  then  led  a  strong  force  against  Athens,  and 
Hippias,  blockaded  in  the '  Pelasgic  fortress  '  (i.e.  the  Acropolis), 
and  hearing  of  the  capture  of  his  children,  capitulated  (510). 

M  177 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
He  was  allowed  to  leave  Attica  '  under  treaty/  together  with 
his  children,  and  went,  says  Thucydides,  "  first  to  Sigeum,  then 
to  lyampsacus,  and  thence  to  the  court  of  King  Darius." 

Now  the  head  of  the  Alcmaeonidae  who  had  been  thus 
restored  to  Athens  was  Cleisthenes.  He  was  the  grandson 
of  Cleisthenes  the  tyrant  of  Sicyon,  whose  daughter  married 
the  Athenian  Megacles.  Of  this  Megacles  we  have  already 
heard  much.  It  was  his  daughter  (and  therefore  the  sister  of 
Cleisthenes)  whom  Peisistratus  married  and  rejected. 

On  the  expulsion  of  Hippias,  whose  absolute  rule  had  kept 
open  feuds  in  abeyance,  political  discussion  once  more  began. 
Cleisthenes,  the  personal  foe  of  the  Peisistratidae,  was  naturally 
opposed  to  the  old  regime,  and,  as  Herodotus  expresses  it, 
"  called  to  his  aid  the  common  people."  He  was  opposed  by 
Isagoras  and  the  aristocratical  party.  Isagoras,  being  worsted, 
appealed  to  Sparta,  and  the  Spartans  sent  a  peremptory 
order  (as  they  did  again  seventy-seven  years  later,  in  refer- 
ence to  Pericles)  that  the  Athenians  should  "  cast  out  the 
accursed  thing  " — the  *'  pollution  of  the  goddess  " — namely, 
the  Alcmaeonidae.^ 

Cleisthenes  was  forced  to  leave  Athens.  This,  however,  did 
not  content  Isagoras  and  his  party.  They  invited  the  Spartans ; 
whereupon  King  Cleomenes  came  and  expelled  700  Athenian 
families.  But  on  his  trying  to  dissolve  the  Kcclesia  and  establish 
an  oligarchy  the  Athenians  rose.  The  Spartans  were  blockaded 
for  two  days  in  the  Acropolis,  and  then  accepted  terms,  pur- 
chasing their  lives  by  handing  over  their  mercenaries  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  Athenians,  who  put  them  all  to  death, 
among  them  a  Delphian  who,  as  pancratiast,  had  won  three 
victories  at  the  Pythian  and  two  at  the  Olympic  Games, 
and  whose  statue  by  the  celebrated  Argive  sculptor  Ageladas  I 
(the  master  of  Pheidias,  Myron,  and  Polycleitus)  was  seen  ' 
nearly  700  years  later  at  Olympia  by  the  traveller  Pausanias. 

Cleisthenes  and  the  700  families  were  then  recalled.  Cleomenes  1 
endeavoured  to  invade  Attica  again,  and  although  the  attempt  j 
failed  (the  Spartan  kings  having  quarrelled) ,  the  Athenians  were  | 
^  See  about  Cylon  p.  136;  also  Thuc.  i.  126,  and  Hdt.  v.  70. 

178 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

so  alarmed,  if  we  are  to  believe  Herodotus,  that  they  actually 

sent  ambassadors  to  Sardis  to  sue  for  the  alliance  of  Darius ; 

but  they  were  told  that  the  friendship  of  the  Great  King  was 

only  to  be  bought  by  earth  and  water,  tokens  of  vassalage. 

Possibly  it  was  not  in  alarm  that  they  did  this,  but  in  arrogance, 

!  for  we  find  them  soon  afterwards  inflicting  crushing  defeats 

I  on  the  Boeotians  and  the  Chalcidians  (of  Euboea),  who  had 

j  joined  the  Spartans  in  their  last  invasion  of  Attica.     The 

rich  lyelantine  plain  (p.  129)  was  allotted  to  Athenian  settlers, 

!  and  many  Chalcidian  prisoners  were  kept  fettered  at  Athens 

1  until  they  were  ransomed  at  two  minae  apiece  (say  £8  nominal, 

[but  perhaps  ^^40  in  present  value).     "The  chains  wherewith 

I  they  were  fettered,''  says  Herodotus,  "  were  hung  up  by  the 

Athenians  in  their  Acropolis,   where  they  were  still  to  be 

seen  in  my  day,  hanging  against  a  wall  scorched  by  the  Median 

flames."     From  a  tenth  of  the  ransom-money  a  magnificent 

bronze  quadriga  was  set  up  to  the  left  of  the  old  gate  of  the 

Acropolis.^  Moreover,  in  a  stoa  (portico)  at  Delphi  the  Athenians 

I  dedicated  (as  we  learn  from  an  inscription  lately  discovered 

1  there)  arms  and  beaks  of  ships  captured  in  this  war. 

1      The  people  of  Aegina  had  made  common  cause  with  the 

Boeotians  against  their  old  enemy,  Athens.     In  Solon's  time, 

'   as  we  have  seen,  the  Athenians  had  attacked  Aegina,  not  long 

I   after  their  conquest  of  Salamis,  but  had  been  driven  out  of  the 

I  jj  island  by  the  Argives.^  Since  that  time  hostility  had  smouldered, 

•  I ;  but  it  now  broke  out  openly,  and  the  Aeginetans  carried  on  a 

e I- chronic  'unheralded'   war  with  Athens  right  down  to  the 

1,  ( ;  time  of  the  Persian  war,  making  constant  descents  on  the  coast 

:e  i  3f  Attica  and  on  the  Athenian  port  Phaleron.     Such  was  their 

s,;:imbitterment  that  shortly  before  the  battle  of  Salamis  the 

asjJ5partans  had  to  interfere  and  send  Aeginetans  as  hostages  to 

Vthens  in  order  to  prevent  Aegina  aiding  the  Persians  ;    nor 

lid  Aegina  cease  to  be  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Athens  till  (in  431) 

^  P|'   *  Pericles  perhaps  set  up  another  on  the  right  hand  (c.  446),  and  when  the 
ew  Propylaea  were  built  {c.  437)  they  were  probably  put  on  new  bases. 
'ne  of  these  bases  with  traces  of  the  inscription  quoted  by  Herodotus  (v.  77) 
as  been  found. 
*  See  Hdt.  v.  82  sq.,  and  Note  B,  Dress. 

179 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
the  inhabitants  were  expelled  and  the  island  was  incorporated 
in  the  Attic  state. 

Thus  Athens  began  to  unfold  her  powers — a  fact  that 
Herodotus  justly  attributes  to  her  regained  political  freedom. 
"  These  things  show/'  he  says,  "  that  while  undergoing 
oppression  they  let  themselves  be  beaten,  since  they  worked 
for  a  master  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  got  their  liberty  each  man 
was  eager  to  do  the  best  he  could." 

Had  this  rewon  liberty  retained  the  basis  of  the  old  vSolonian 
constitution  the  old  political  feuds  would  have  assuredly 
reappeared  and  led  even  again  to  some  form  of  enslavement, 
but  fortune  willed  it  that  Cleisthenes  should  discover  a 
method  by  which  all  the  local  and  clan  influences  which  had 
made  party  feeling  so  rancorous  and  dangerous  should  be 
eliminated,  and  the  weal  of  the  state  should  become  the  one 
object  of  political  activity.  Having  abolished  the  four  old 
Ionic  tribes,  which  were  founded  on  locality,  profession,  and 
wealth,  he  formed  ten  tribes  solely  for  political  purposes.  Each 
of  these  new  political  tribes  consisted  of  three  trittyes  (thirds) 
taken  from  three  different  regions  of  Attica,  so  that  the  tribal 
vote  was  not  prejudiced  by  local  influences.  Each  tribe  had 
to  supply  a  contingent  of  hoplites,  some  cavalry,^  and  one  of 
the  ten  generals  of  the  Athenian  army.  Fifty  men  from  every 
tribe,  chosen  by  lot  from  a  selected  number,  formed  the  new 
council  (Boule)  of  500.  This  council,  in  conjunction  with  theF 
archons  and  other  magistrates,  managed  all  internal  affairs' 
and  initiated  laws  to  be  sanctioned  by  the  great  Assembly 
(Ecclesia).  But  for  the  dispatch  of  business  the  Boule  had  a 
permanent,  committee.  Each  of  its  ten  groups  of  councillors: 
took  it  in  turn  to  act  as  this  committee  for  thirty-six  days 
(the  tenth  of  the  year  of  360  days,  which  was  rectified  by 
intercalating  a  month  every  five  years).  While  they  sat  on 
committee  these  deputies  were  called  prytaneis  (presidents),! 
and  their  tribe  was  the  '  presiding  tribe  '  during  this  space  of 

1  The  tribal  regiment  was  called  a  '  tribe  '  {phyle).  The  subdivisions  werci 
tA^cls  and  Xo^ot.  See  Hdt.  vi.  iii.  In  Solon's  time  Athens  could  mustei 
barely  a  hundred  horsemen,  and  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  Peloponnesiai 
War  only  about  a  thousand. 
180 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

thirty-six  days  (which  was  called  a  prytaneia).  The  people's 
Assembly  (Ecclesia)  probably  met,  as  it  did  in  later  times, 
every  nine  days — or  it  may  have  been  summoned  only  on 
special  occasions  to  sanction  a  law  by  plebiscite  or  to  dispose 
of  some  referendum.  Of  the  Areopagus  we  hear  little  at  this 
period.  It  probably  existed  with  only  an  empty  show  of 
authority. 

Ostracism  may  have  been  an  invention  of  Cleisthenes,  though 
it  seems  to  have  been  used  first  in  488.  It  was  an  useful  method 
of  getting  rid  for  a  time  of  a  dangerous  citizen.  The  council 
and  Assembly  first  decided  (and  could  only  do  it  during  the 
sixth  prytaneia)  that  an  ostrakismos  was  advisable.  On  a  fixed 
day  barricades  were  erected  in  the  Agora  and  every  voter  of 
the  ten  tribes  gave  his  vote  by  casting  into  an  urn  an  ostrakon 
(potsherd)  on  which  he  had  inscribed  the  name  of  any  citizen 
whom  he  held  to  be  especially  dangerous.  The  man  against 
whom  most  votes  were  given,  should  his  ostraka  number  at  least 
6000 — i.e.  about  a  fifth  of  the  number  of  the  voters — was 
exiled  for  ten  (later  for  five)  years,  but  lost  neither  his  citizenship 
nor  his  property. 

The  Rise  of  Persia 

We  must  now  turn  from  the  affairs  of  the  refounded  demo- 
cracy of  the  little  Attic  state  to  note  the  rise  of  a  mighty  empire 
which  ere  long  will  threaten  to  annihilate  the  whole  of  the 
eastern  while  Carthage  is  endeavouring  to  annihilate  the 
western  world  of  Hellas. 

It  would  take  us  too  far  afield  to  follow  Herodotus  in  his 
mvestigations  of  the  origins  of  the  feud  between  Greece  and 
:he  Asiatic  '  barbarian,'  nor  will  it  be  possible  to  repeat 
nany  of  the  countless  stories  that  he  tells  in  connexion  with 
lie  lyydian,  Median,  and  Persian  kings,  stories  with  which  he 
Hures  the  reader  to  Egypt  and  Scythia  and  many  another 
trange  land  and  people  before  he  launches  out  into  the  subject 
I  the  Graeco-Persian  war. 

I  have  already  traced  the  history  of  Assyria  and  Babylon 
own  to   the  death  of  King  Nebucadnezar  in  562,  that  of 

181 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
I^ydia  to  the  accession  of  Croesus  in  560,  and  that  of  Media  to 
the  death  of  Astyages  in  559,  and  we  have  seen  that  the  great 
kings  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  had  never  (except  in  the  case 
of  Cyprus)  come  into  colhsion  with  the  Greeks.  But  the 
early  lyydian  kings  had  attacked  and  subjugated  several  of 
the  Ionian  and  Aeolian  cities,  and  Croesus,  as  soon  as  he  was 
firmly  seated  on  the  I^ydian  throne,  made  himself  master  of 
all  the  Greek  cities  on  the  mainland  of  Asia  Minor  except 
Miletus,  and  even  made  preparations  to  invade  the  islands, 
but  was,  says  Herodotus,  deterred  by  a  witty  remark  of  the 
sage  Bias.^  Kphesus  was  the  first  city  he  attacked — "  The 
Ephesians,  when  he  laid  siege  to  the  place,  made  an  offering 
of  their  city  to  Artemis  by  stretching  a  rope  ^  from  the  town 
wall  to  the  temple  of  the  goddess,  which  was  distant  from  the 
ancient  city  by  a  space  of  seven  furlongs."  This  was  evidently 
the  new  temple  of  the  Kphesian  Artemis,  which  was  still  being 
built  to  replace  the  old  temple  burnt  by  the  Cimmerians  in 
677.  After  capturing  Kphesus,  Croesus  presented  to  this 
temple,  says  Herodotus,  "  golden  heifers  and  most  of  the 
columns."  The  sculptured  drum  of  one  of  these  columns  is 
now  in  the  British  Museum  (Fig.  119).     On  it  were  found  the 

Greek  letters  BA KP AN  ....  EN,  which 

have    been     (doubtless    rightly)     restored    to    BA2IAEY2 
KPOISOZ  ANAGHKEN,  i.e,  "  King  Croesus  dedicated." 

The  wealth  ^  of  Croesus,  as  that  of  his  ancestor  Gyges  and  1^ 
the  Phrygian  Midas,  was  proverbial.     Although  the  conqueror 
of  the  Greek  cities  of  Aeolis  and  Ionia,  he  was  a  great  admirer  !| 
of  Hellenic  civilization,  and  his  court  at  Sardis  was  frequented  1 1 
by  many  Greeks  of  distinction.     He  made,  moreover,  many 
splendid  offerings  to  Greek  temples,  of  which  Herodotus  gives 
a  description  that  may  well  excite  wonder,  if  not  incredulity. 

Shortly  after  the  accession  of  Croesus,  perhaps  in  560-5591 
Solon  not  improbably,  as  we  have  seen,  visited  Sardis.     Croesus, 

*  Herodotus  says:  "  Within  my  own  knowledge  Croesus  was  the  first  to 
inflict  injury  on  the  Greeks  "  ;  but  Alyattes,  Sadyattes,  and  perhaps  Ardys 
attacked  the  Greek  cities. 

*  See  p.  136,  foot-note. 

3  See  Hdt.  i.  50  and  92.    For  the  lyydian  coinage  see  Note  C,  Coins. 

182 


52.  The  Croesus  Coi^umn 
From  the  earlier  Ephesian  temple 


182 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

a  young  man  of  thirty-five  in  the  first  flush  of  kingly  pride, 
bade  the  sage  tell  him  whom  of  all  men  he  had  ever  met  he 
deemed  the  most  happy.  Solon  cited  an  Athenian,  Tellos 
by  name,  who  had  been  blessed  with  domestic  happiness  and 
had  died  a  soldier's  death  in  defence  of  his  country,  and  as 
second  happiest  he  cited  the  Spartan  youths  Cleobis  and  Bito, 
who,  when  the  oxen  failed  to  come,  yoked  themselves  to  a  car 
and  drew  their  aged  mother  five-and-forty  furlongs  to  the 
festival  of  Hera  at  Argos,  and  died  in  the  temple  ;  and  when 
Croesus  asked  him  in  astonishment  how  he  ventured  to  put 
the  happiness  of  such  people  on  a  level  with  his,  Solon  replied 
that  no  wealth  could  give  good  fortune,  and  that  even  a  fortu- 
nate man  cannot  for  certain  be  called  '  happy '  imtil  he  is 
dead,  for  ''  in  every  matter  it  behoveth  us  to  mark  well  the 
end." 

Soon  afterwards  Croesus  learnt  that  all  his  gold  could  not 
save  him  from  the  grief  of  losing  his  favourite  son,  and  some 
ten  years  later  he  was  taught  the  wisdom  of  marking  well  the 
end.  His  kingdom  had  extended  itself  eastward  over  all 
Phrygia,  Mysia,  and  Paphlygonia,  as  far  as  the  river  Halys, 
and  hearing  of  the  presumptuous  doings  of  Cyrus  and  his 
Persians  and  Medes,  he  got  together  a  great  army  of  I^ydians 
and  Greeks  and  crossed  over  into  Cappadocia  to  challenge  the 
new  foe — not  before  having  consulted  the  oracle  at  Delphi. 
The  Delphic  god,  though  he  received  gifts  of  almost  indescrib- 
able magnificence  from  Croesus,  played  him  a  rather  disingenu- 
ous trick,  bidding  him  (as  Ahab  was  bidden)  go  up,  for  he 
would  destroy  a  mighty  empire.  So  vast  had  the  power  of 
Croesus  become  that  doubtless  he  had  visions  of  making 
himself  the  king  of  Media  in  the  place  of  this  usurper  who 
had  dethroned  the  old  Astyages.  But  the  empire  that  he 
should  destroy  was  his  own,  as  the  oracle  afterwards  ex- 
plained. After  an  indecisive  battle  near  the  ancient  capital 
of  Cappadocia,  Pteria,  he  retreated  to  Sardis,  which  ere  long 
was  stormed  by  Cyrus.  Croesus  was  condemned  to  die.  He 
was  placed,  with  twice  seven  noble  I^ydian  youths,  on  a  great 
funeral  pyre.     The  pyre  was  lighted,  and  as  the  flames  shot 

183 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
upward  he  was  heard  to  call  aloud  three  times  on  the  name 
of  Solon.  Cyrus  demanded  the  reason,  and  when  he  learnt 
it  he  bade  the  fire  be  quenched.  But  it  was  too  late  ;  the 
flames  were  not  to  be  mastered.  Then  Croesus  called  on 
Apollo,  and  a  sudden  deluge  of  rain  extinguished  the  fire. 
Cyrus,  deeply  moved  by  the  miracle,  made  Croesus  his  coun- 
sellor and  constant  companion. 

Cyrus  captured  Sardis  probably  in  546.  Thirteen  years 
earlier  he  had  (according  to  Herodotus)  dethroned  the 
Median  king  Astyages.  His  father,  Cambyses,  a  descendant 
of  a  noble  chieftain  named  Achaemenes,  was  prince  of  the 
Persians,  a  race  of  bold  and  hardy  mountaineers,  closely  akin 
to  the  Medes,  living  in  the  highlands  between  Media  and 
the  Persian  Gulf.  This  Cambyses  married  a  daughter  of 
the  Median  king,  and  their  son,  the  young  Cyrus,  putting 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  Persians,  succeeded  (in  559) 
in  conquering  his  grandfather  and  establishing  the  Medo- 
Persian  Empire.  This  Medo-Persian  Empire,  when  first  Cyrus 
mounted  the  throne,^  occupied,  roughly  speaking,  the  lands 
between  the  Caspian,  the  Persian  Gulf,  the  Indus,  and  the  valley 
of  the  Tigris.  Its  chief  cities  were  Pasargadae,  Persepolis, 
Ecbatana,  and  Susa.  The  general  name  given  to  this  vast 
country  by  its  inhabitants  was  Iran,  and  these  inhabitants 
are  therefore  generally  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  Iranian 
branch  of  the  Aryan  race.  In  religion  they  were  followers 
of  Zoroaster  and  worshipped  Mithras,  the  sun-god.  According 
to  Herodotus  they  had  neither  images  of  gods  nor  temples  nor 

*  Herodotus  gives  a  story  about  the  infancy  of  Cyrus  and  his  childhood  at 
the  court  of  Astyages  which  has  great  similarity  to  the  Roman  legend  of 
Romulus  and  Remus  and  King  Numitor  (Hdt.  i.  107  sq.).  It  should  be 
mentioned  that  Xenophon,  who  wrote  later  but  knew  personally  the  younger 
Cyrus,  and  Ctesias,  who  was  surgeon  to  that  prince's  brother  (Artaxerxes  II), 
give  versions  very  different  from  that  of  Herodotus.  Xenophon  states  in  his 
Cyropaedeia,  where  he  describes  the  bringing  up  of  Cyrus  the  Great,  that  Cyrus 
never  rebelled  against  his  grandfather,  but  acted  as  his  general  and  the 
general  of  his  son,  Cyaxares  II  (unknown  to  Herodotus),  and  that  he  even 
took  Babylon  (538)  as  the  general  of  this  Cyaxares  II  (perhaps  the  '  Darius 
the  Median  '  of  Daniel  v.  31),  whom  he  later  dethroned.  Ctesias  asserts 
that  Cyrus  and  Astyages  were  in  no  way  related.  According  to  Herodotus, 
Cyrus  was  a  great-nephew  of  Croesus,  who  married  a  sister  of  Astyages. 

184 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

altars,  "  accounting  the  use  of  such  things  a  folly."  As  fire- 
worshippers  they  probably  had  no  idols,  and  there  seems  to 
be  no  trace  of  ancient  Persian  (though  of  course  of  Chaldaean) 
temples,  but  huge  stone  altars  on  open-air  terraces  have  been 
discovered  which  were  apparently  used  for  sacrifice  to  the 
sun-god.  Probably  the  Persians  had  a  purer  form  of  Zoroas- 
trian  fire-worship  than  the  other  Iranian  peoples,  such  as  the 
Chaldaeans  and  Medes,  regarding  I^ight  and  Darkness  as 
symbols  of  the  powers  of  good  and  evil,  also  symbolized  by 
the  deities  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman.  The  priests  and  religious 
teachers,  called  Magi,  formed  a  very  select  and  influential 
caste.  Of  the  character  and  the  customs  of  the  Persians 
graphic  and  full  descriptions  are  given  by  Herodotus  (i.  131  sq, 
and  elsewhere)  and  by  Xenophon  and  other  writers.  It  is 
here  impossible  to  treat  this  intensely  interesting  subject  as 
it  deserves,  but  it  is  well  to  note  in  passing  that,  although  we 
are  indubitably  right  in  regarding  the  result  of  the  Graeco- 
Persian  conflict  with  the  deepest  gratitude,  nevertheless  we 
must  allow — as,  indeed,  did  many  of  the  Greeks  themselves — 
that  in  some  important  points  the  Persian  character  (which 
was  evidently  very  different  from  that  of  the  Medes  and  the 
Babylonians)  was  originally  greatly  superior  to  that  of  the 
average  Hellene.  It  was  no  strong  character  and  soon  con- 
tracted many  Oriental  and  Hellenic  vices  ;  but  noble  traits 
remained.  Many  acts  of  magnanimity  are  related  of  the 
Persian  kings,  ^  and  their  contempt  for  the  huckstering 
and  rhetorical  arts  and  deceits  of  the  Greek  Agora,  as  well 
as  for  the  venality  and  treachery  not  only  of  the  ordinary 
Greek  but  even  of  Greek  leaders,  was  frequently  and  openly 
expressed.  "  The  most  disgraceful  thing  in  the  world,  in  their 
opinion,"  says  Herodotus,  ''is  to  tell  a  lie  "  ;  and  when  he 

^  See  Hdt.  vi.  41  and  119,  vii.  136,  &c.  Kven  the  mad  Cambyses  was 
^capable  of  generous  impulses.  Doubtless  such  qualities  coexisted  with 
terrible  callousness  towards  human  suffering.  As  for  the  painful  subject  of 
the  ever-present  Greek  traitor,  one  need  only  think  of  Bretria  and  Thermopylae 
and  Marathon  and  Aegina  and  Thebes  and  Pausanias  and  Themistocles  and 
Miltiades  and  many  other  names.  For  an  arraignment  of  Greek  character 
see  Mahaffy's  Social  Life  in  Greece. 

185 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
remarks  that "  the  Persians  look  upon  themselves  as  very  greatly 
superior  in  all  respects  to  the  rest  of  mankind,"  we  cannot  but 
concede  that  in  some  respects  at  least  they  do  offer  a  very 
striking  contrast  to  the  less  admirable  sides  of  the  Greek  cha- 
racter. Thus  one  cannot  help  contrasting  such  facts  as  the 
treatment  by  Darius  of  the  Eretrian  captives  and  the  terrible 
decree  passed  by  the  Athenians  against  Mytilene.  It  is  true 
that  in  this  case  intense  excitement  may  be  pleaded  and  the 
decree  was  ultimately  reversed — so  that  the  process  somewhat 
reminds  one  of  what  Herodotus  says  about  the  Persians : 
''It  is  their  practice  to  deliberate  upon  affairs  of  importance 
when  they  are  drunk,  and  then  on  the  morrow,  when  they  are 
sober,  to  reconsider  it."  ^ 

After  his  conquest  of  Lydia  Cyrus  returned  to  the  far  East, 
leaving  his  general  Harpagus  to  reduce  the  Greek  Asiatic  cities, 
all  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  powerful  Miletus,  had 
aided  their  liege-lord  Croesus.  Harpagus  had  no  very  difficult 
task,  for  these  cities,  in  constant  feud,  were  ever  a  prey  to  the 
invader.  Had  they  but  formed  a  confederation,  as  the  sage 
Thales,  it  is  said,  advised,  ^  Ionia  and  Aeolis  might  perhaps 
have  offered  a  successful  resistance  to  the  advance  of  Persia  ; 
but  the  consciousness  of  disunion  in  the  face  of  such  over- 
whelming odds  paralysed  them,  and  we  are  scarcely  surprised 
when  we  hear  that  another  sage.  Bias  of  Priene,  advised  the 
lonians  to  migrate  en  masse  to  Sardinia,  and  that  the  people 
of  Phocaea,  when  besieged,  embarked  on  their  ships  and  sailed 
away  (most  of  them)  to  Corsica,^  while  the  people  of  Teos 
made  for  Thrace,  where  they  founded  Abdera. 

Cyrus  meantime  had  attacked  Babylonia.  The  great 
Nebucadnezar  had  died  in  562,  and  had  been  succeeded  by 
several  Babylonian  kings,  the  fourth  of  whom,  Nabonid  (whose 
regal  title  seems  to  have  been  I^abynetus),  ruled  in  great  state 
at  Babylon,  where  the  Jews  with  Daniel  were  still  in  captivity. 

^  Sometimes,  he  adds,  they  reversed  the  process.     See  Tacitus,  Germ.  xxii. 

*  Thales  is  said  to  have  persuaded  the  Milesians  not  to  aid  Croesus.  But 
Miletus  was  in  alliance  with  I^ydia,  and  we  hear  of  Thales  himself  aiding 
Croesus  by  damming  up  the  river  Halys  in  order  to  allow  him  to  pass  over. 

'  See  p.  123  as  to  the  Phocaeans  at  Alalia  and  Klea. 

186 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

He  had  made  alliance  with  Amasis  of  Egypt,  Croesus  of  I^ydia, 
and  Polycrates  of  Samos  against  the  usurper  Cyrus.  The 
conquest  of  Babylonia  by  Cyrus  seems  to  have  lasted  about 
ten  years.  In  538  he  succeeded  in  capturing  Babylon  by 
diverting  the  Euphrates.^  Not  content  with  the  mighty 
empire  that  he  had  now  under  his  rule,  he  made  an  expedition 
into  what  is  now  Russian  Turkestan  against  a  Scythian  tribe, 
the  Massagetae.  In  this  remote  land,  near  the  Aral  lake, 
he  fell  in  battle  (529).^  The  queen  of  the  Massagetae  is  said 
to  have  placed  his  head  in  a  bowl  of  blood  and  bade  it  drink 
its  fill.  2  Cambyses,  his  son,  increased  the  Persian  Empire 
by  the  conquest  of  Egypt. 

During  the  first  thirty-four  years  of  the  period  we  are  consider- 
ing in  this  chapter  (560-500)  Egypt  had  enjoyed  independence 
and  prosperity  under  King  Aahmes  (Amasis),  whose  friendship 
with  the  Greeks  has  already  been  mentioned.  He  had  con- 
quered Cyprus  and  had  formed  an  alliance  with  Polycrates, 
the  powerful  despot  of  Samos,  who,  with  a  strong  fleet  of 
fifty-oared  ships  of  war,  had  defied  Cyrus  and  Harpagus.  All 
that  Polycrates  undertook  seemed  to  prosper.  His  court, 
at  which  the  poets  Ibycus  and  Anacreon  lived,  and  which 
Amasis  possibly  honoured  with  his  presence,  rivalled  the  fame 
of  that  of  Periander  or  Peisistratus,  and  under  his  rule  the 
city  of  Samos  was  furnished  with  its  splendid  harbour  and  the 
great  temple  of  Hera  and  many  other  magnificent  buildings, 
as  well  as  with  the  celebrated  Samian  aqueduct,  with  its 
tunnel  of  seven  furlongs.  But  the  envy  of  the  gods  was  aroused, 
and  Amasis,  foreseeing  the  ruin  of  the  Samian  tyrant  (as  all 
readers  of  Schiller's  fine  ballad  know),  renounced  his  friendship. 
Perhaps  the  fact  lying  beneath  the  story  of  the  Ring  is  that 
the  kings  quarrelled  ;  for  we  hear  that  Polycrates  sent  forty  of 
his  penteconters  (which  mutinied  and  never  arrived)  to  aid 
Cambyses  in  his  attack  on  Egypt.  Not  long  afterwards  (523), 
having  apparently  broken  again  with  Cambyses,  he  fell  into  an 

1  Hdt.  i.  191.     The  Belshazzar  of  Daniel  is  either  Nabonid  himself  or  (as 
inscriptions  seem  to  prove)  his  son,  who  was  acting  as  governor  of  Babylon. 
*  See  note  at  end  of  this  chapter. 

187 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
ambuscade  laid  by  the  satrap  of  Sardis,  who  crucified  him. 
Bre  Cambyses  reached  Egypt  King  Amasis  had  died  (525). 
His  son,  Psamtik  III,  was  defeated  near  Pelusium,  and  Memphis 
was  then  captured  and  the  whole  of  Egypt  and  Cyrene  sub- 
mitted to  the  Persians.  But,  incensed  at  his  failure  to  conquer 
Aethiopia,  Gambyses  vented  his  fury  in  acts  of  sacrilege  (such 
as  mutilating  the  corpse  of  Amasis  and  stabbing  the  sacred 
bull  Apis)  and  in  other  deeds  so  indescribably  cruel  and 
foolish  that  one  is  forced  to  believe  that  he  was  insane.  One 
assassination,  that  of  his  brother  Bardyia,  or  Smerdis,  who 
was  regent  of  some  of  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  empire, 
caused  the  fall  of  the  tyrant ;  for  a  false  Smerdis,  one  of  the 
Magi,  named  Gaumata,  pretending  to  be  the  murdered  prince, 
proclaimed  himself  king,  and  Cambyses  hastened  homeward, 
and  somewhere  in  Syria  either  met  his  death  by  an  accident, 
as  related  by  Herodotus,  or  committed  suicide,  as  is  stated 
by  the  Darius  inscription  at  Behistun. 

The  false  Smerdis,  keeping  himself  out  of  sight  in  his  palace 
to  avoid  detection,  held  power  for  eight  months  so  firmly  that, 
according  to  the  Darius  inscription,  "  no  Persian  or  Mede  had 
the  courage  to  oppose  him."  But  seven  nobles,  who,  by  means 
of  one  of  the  women  of  the  royal  harem,  Herodotus  says, 
discovered  that  he  possessed  no  ears  and  was  a  Mede  and  a 
Magian  whom  Cambyses  had  thus  punished  for  some  offence, 
slew  the  pretender  and  a  great  number  of  the  Magi.  One  of 
these  nobles,  Darius,  the  son  of  the  satrap  Hystaspes,  was 
elected  king.  Herodotus  gives  a  graphic  description  of  how 
it  was  arranged  that  the  man  should  be  king  whose  horse 
neighed  first,  and  how  the  groom  of  Darius  won  the  royal 
crown  for  his  master.  Some  modern  critics,  however,  reject 
the  story  as  childish,  and  assert  that  Hystaspes  ^  was  the 
legitimate  heir  of  Cyrus.  The  probability  is  that  the  false 
Smerdis  was  a  pretender  put  forward  by  the  party  of  the 
Medes  and  Magi  (who,  although  Persian  priests,  were  of  Median 

*  Hystaspes  was,  according  to  Herodotus,  "  governor  of  Persia"  (iii.  70). 
In  the  Behistun  inscription  he  is  called  a  general  of  his  son  Darius  (!)  and  a 
satrap  of  Parthia. 

188 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

extraction),  and  that  his  overthrow  meant  the  triumph  of  the 
Persian  royal  house  of  the  Achaemenidae,  to  which  Darius 
(as  Xerxes  asserts  in  Hdt.  vii.  ii)  unquestionably  belonged ; 
and  Darius  strengthened  the  tie  by  marrying  Atossa,  a  daughter 
of  Cyrus,  who  had  been  Cambyses'  queen. 

Darius  began  to  reign  in  521,  and  reigned  for  thirty-six 
years.  After  suppressing  revolts  that  broke  out  more  than 
once  in  Media  and  Babylonia  and  forced  him  to  capture 
Babylon  twice,  he  confirmed  the  Persian  sovereignty  in  his 
western  empire  by  placing  Phrygia,  I^ydia,  and  Ionia  under 
satraps,  to  whom  the  tyrants  of  the  Greek  cities  of  the  main- 
land paid  tribute  and  furnished  troops  and  ships  as  vassals 
of  the  Great  King.  Samos,  too,  which  under  Polycrates  had 
defied  Darius,  was  conquered  and  '  netted  '  and  given  over  to 
the  brother  of  Polycrates,  who  had  won  the  friendship  of  the 
young  Darius  when  he  was  in  Egypt  with  Cambyses.  ^ 

But  it  was  not  only  in  war  that  the  empire  of  Darius  was 
great.  It  attained  a  wealth  and  a  magnificence  of  Oriental 
civilization  which  in  ancient  times  were  probably  never 
equalled.  2  The  gold  staters  of  King  Darius,  known  as  '  Darics  ' 
(probably  the  'dram'  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah),  circulated 
throughout  Hellas.  The  chief  cities  were  connected  by  care- 
fully kept  roads,  and  there  was  a  system  of  royal  mails  carried 
by  relays  of  horses  and  couriers  {ayyapela).  The  '  royal 
road  '  between  Sardis  and  Susa,  some  1500  miles  in  length 
and  with  about  a  hundred  stations,  was  traversed  by  pedes- 
trians in  about  ninety  days,  and  by  a  post  or  courier,  of  course, 
in  far  less  time.  (Herodotus,  who  describes  it  fully,  probably 
travelled  by  this  route.) 

After  he  had  reigned  about  eight  years  Darius,  it  is  said,  con- 
ceived a  desire  to  punish  the  Scythians  for  their  invasion  of 
Media,  which  had  taken  place  about  a  century  before  (p.  148). 
Whether  this  was  his  real  object  or  whether  his  purpose  was 
the  conquest  of  Thrace  and  the  acquisition  of  the  gold-mines 

^  For  this  story  see  Hdt.  iii.  139;  and  for  the  process  of  'driving'  or 
'  netting  '  a  hostile  country  see  Hdt.  iii.  149,  vi.  31. 

-  See  Hdt.  iii.  89  sq.  for  an  account  of  the  revenues  of  Darius  from  his 
immense  empire  of  twenty  satrapies.  ^ 

189 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

of  this  country  and  of  Dacia  is  questioned.  Herodotus  had 
far  better  opportunities  than  we  have  of  learning  the  truth, 
and  there  can  be  httle  doubt  that  the  professed  object  was 
what  he  asserts  it  to  have  been,  but  there  is  no  less  doubt 
that  what  he  describes  as  a  disastrous  failure  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  Persian  supremacy  in  Thrace,  and  even  in 
Macedonia,  for  the  next  fifteen  years  or  so. 

As  for  the  story  that  Herodotus  gives  us  of  this  Scythian 
expedition,  it  certainly  contains  a  good  deal  that  sounds 
impossible,  especially  in  regard  to  the  distances  traversed  in 
a  comparatively  short  time  ;  but  the  chronicler  himself  had 
visited  Scythia  (he  had  been,  for  instance,  four  days'  journey 
up  the  river  Bug,  and  evidently  knew  the  Dnieper  and  its 
sturgeon),  and  had  collected  an  immense  amount  of  informa- 
tion about  the  country,  as  well  as  reports,  more  or  less  founded 
on  facts,  about  the  nations  further  north,  and  what  he  relates 
has  a  deep  interest  for  every  one  except  the  purely  scientific 
historian.  He  tells  us  that  Darius  collected  an  army  of 
700,000  men  and  a  fleet  of  600  Greek  ships.  The  ships,  or 
some  of  them,  he  sent  up  the  Danube,  and  ordered  a  bridge 
to  be  thrown  across  the  river  above  the  delta.  His  army 
crossed  the  Bosporus  by  another  bridge,  constructed  by  the 
Samian  Mandrocles  (who  afterwards  gave  to  the  Heraion  at 
Samos  a  picture  of  the  passage  of  the  troops,  with  Darius 
seated  on  his  throne  in  the  foreground),  and  two  marble  pillars 
with  inscriptions  in  Greek  and  Assyrian  were  erected.  One  of 
these  Herodotus  seems  to  have  seen  later  at  Byzantium. 

Having  reached  the  Danube,  Darius  left  the  Ionian  Greeks 
in  charge  of  the  bridge,  and,  giving  them  a  leathern  thong  in 
which  sixty  knots  had  been  tied,  he  bade  them  untie  one 
every  day,  and  if  he  had  not  returned  when  the  last  had  been 
untied  they  were  to  sail  home.  He  then  set  out  "  with  all 
speed,"  and,  following  the  retreating  Scythians,  marched  as 
far  as  the  Maeotic  lake  (Sea  of  Azof)  and  the  Don,  and  even 
perhaps  the  Volga  !  But  the  Scythians  doubled  and  re-entered 
their  own  country,  and  baffled  and  harassed  the  returning 
Persians  ;  and  some  of  them,  stealing  ahead,  reached  the 
190 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

Danube  and  urged  the  Greeks  to  destroy  the  bridge.     This 
proposal  was  strongly  seconded  by  Miltiades,  who  was  now, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  Greek  '  tyrant '  of  the  Chersonese,  and 
had  been  obliged  to  join  the  expedition.     But  when  Histiaeus 
of  Miletus  opposed  it,  saying  that  their  existence  as  tyrants 
depended  wholly  on  Persia,  the  Greek  leaders  decided  (to  the 
great  disdain  of  the  Scythians,  who  called  them  the  "  faith- 
fullest  of  slaves  ")  only  to  break  the  bridge  for  a  distance  of  a 
bow-shot  from  the  Scythian  side,  and  to  await  the  return  of 
Darius,  though  the  sixtieth  knot  had  long  ago  been  untied. 
At  length  the  Persians  arrived.     "  It  was  night,  and  their 
terror  when  they  found  the  bridge  broken  was  great.  .  .  . 
But  there  was  in  the  army  of  Darius  an  Egyptian,  who  had  a 
louder   voice   than   any   other   man  in   the   world.     He  was 
bid  by  Darius  to  stand  at  the  water's  edge  and  call  Histiaeus 
the   Milesian,  who,  hearing  him  at  the  very  first  summons, 
brought  across  the  fleet.  .  .  .  Thus  the  Persians  escaped  from 
Scythia.''    And  Darius,  having  reached  Sestos,  took  the  bulk 
of  his  army  across  the  Hellespont  and  returned  to  Sardis. 
But,  although  Herodotus  seems  to  regard  the  return  of  the 
king  as  a  flight  rather  than  a  dignified  withdrawal  after  a 
successful  campaign,  80,000  men  were  left  behind  in  Europe 
under  the  command  of  Megabazus,  who  '*  subdued  to  the 
dominion  of  the  king  all  the  towns  and  all  the  nations  of 
these  parts."     For  some  time  the  whole  of  Thrace  and  the 
islands  of  the  North  Aegaean  remained  in  the  possession  of 
Persia,  and  tribute  was  probably  exacted  from  the  Macedonian 
king.^    After  the  revolt  of  Ionia  in  499  the  Thracians  (whom 
Herodotus  calls  "  the  most  powerful  people  in  the  world, 
except,  of  course,  the  Indians '')  threw  off  the  Persian  yoke, 
and  were  forthwith  invaded  by  the  Scythians,  who  succeeded 
even  in  driving  Miltiades  out  of  the  Chersonese. 

The  fourth  book  of  Herodotus  consists  mainly  of  his  account 
of  Scythia  and  the  Scythians.  Whatever  may  be  its  value 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  historical  critic,  it  is  very  fascinat- 
ing.   Much  that  he  recounts  is  founded  on  his  own  experiences 

^  For  the  fate  of  one  Persian  embassy  demanding  tribute  see  Hdt.  v.  17. 

191 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

and  may  be  accepted  as  trustworthy,  and  as  for  the  stories 
that  he  retails  about  the  fabled  lands  beyond  the  Tanais 
(Don) — about  the  one-eyed  Arimaspi  and  the  treasure  of 
sacred  gold  guarded  by  griffins  (recalling  the  Rheingold  and 
the  dragons  of  the  Siegfried  legend),  and  about  the  Hyper- 
boreans and  the  '  Perpherees,'  those  maiden-messengers  who 
brought  (possibly  from  Britain)  gifts  packed  in  wheat-straw 
to  the  shrine  of  Artemis  in  Delos,  and  died  there,  and  were 
honoured  as  deities  with  the  hair-offerings  of  Delian  youths 
and  maidens  ^ — all  such  things  he  merely  repeats  on  hearsay 
for  whatever  human  interest  they  may  possess,  and  he  especially 
warns  us  that  much  of  it  was  derived  from  a  very  weird  person, 
namely,  a  poet  and  traveller  named  Aristeas,  a  kind  of 
'  spectre-man,'  as  Herodotus  calls  him,  who  was  said  to  have 
vanished  on  several  occasions  and  to  have  reappeared  after 
the  lapse  of  years — once,  indeed,  after  the  lapse  of  over  three 
centuries  ;  having  recounted  which  fact,  Herodotus  uses  his 
favourite  formula  and  allows  that  "  enough  has  been  said 
concerning  Aristeas." 

The  geography  of  Herodotus  is  a  subject  too  large  to  discuss 
fully  here.  I  must  content  myself  with  one  or  two  of  his 
remarks.  "  I  cannot  but  laugh,''  he  says,  "  when  I  see  numbers 
of  persons  drawing  maps  of  the  world  .  .  .  and  making  the 
ocean-stream  running  all  round  the  earth,  and  the  earth  itself 
an  exact  circle,  as  if  described  with  a  pair  of  compasses,  with 
Europe  and  Asia  of  just  the  same  size."  Doubtless  here  he 
is  making  a  thrust  at  Hecataeus,  his  predecessor  in  history- 
writing,  who  composed  a  text  to  the  map  that  Anaximander 
made  of  the  world  (p.  205).  He  then  proceeds  to  give  his  own 
ideas  as  to  the  shape  and  relative  size  of  the  three  continents, 
and  asserts  that  Europe  is  by  far  the  largest — so  much  larger 
that  he  "  cannot  conceive  why  three  different  names,  and 
women's  names  especially,  should  have  been  given  to  what  is 
really  only  one  continent."  In  one  point  at  least  he  was 
right.     "  As  for  lyibya,"  he  says,  "  we  know  it  to  be  washed  on 

*  Hdt,  iv.  33.     It  reads  like  the  legend  of  some  St.  Walpurga.     Herodotus 
himself  saw  their  graves  "  on  the  left  as  one  enters  the  precinct  of  Artemis." 
192 


'"*'  iir:^'  '-^  "■^^lito  -'• 


53.  Tomb  of  Cyrus 
From  Dr.  Sarre's  '  Iranische  Felsreliefs  '  {Ernst  Wasmuth,  A.-G.,  Berlin) 


54.   The   OlyYMPIEION,    ATHENS 


192 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

all  sides  by  the  sea,  except  where  it  is  attached  to  Asia." 
He  gives  as  proof  the  circumnavigation  of  Africa  by  Pharaoh 
Necho's  Phoenician  sailors/  but  he  rejects  just  the  one  bit 
of  evidence  that  for  us  is  conclusive.  "  On  their  return,"  he 
says,  "  they  declared  (and  I  for  my  part  do  not  believe  this, 
though  perhaps  others  may)  that  in  sailing  round  I^ibya  they 
had  the  sun  upon  their  right  hand  " — i.e.  on  looking  towards 
the  noonday  sun  the  east  was  to  their  right.  Another  attempt 
to  circumnavigate  Africa  was  made,  says  Herodotus,  by  a 
nephew  of  Darius,  who  was  condemned  to  death  for  some 
crime,  but  respited  on  condition  that  he  should  "  sail  round 
lyibya."  He  seems  to  have  got  as  far  as  the  Guinea  coast, 
where  he  discovered  a  "  dwarfish  race,"  but  his  ships  "  refused 
to  go  any  further  "  (perhaps  on  account  of  the  south  trade- 
winds),  and  he  returned  and  (like  Walter  Raleigh)  was  put  to 
death  in  execution  of  the  former  sentence. 

NOTE  ON  THE  TOMBS  OF  CYRUS  AND  DARIUS 

(See  Figs.  53  and  73) 

The  story  related  by  Herodotus  about  the  death  of  Cyrus 
seems  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  his  tomb  (a  cenotaph  ?) 
was  to  be  seen  at  Pasargadae,  where  Alexander  the  Great 
visited  it — and  punished  severely  those  who  had  pillaged  it. 
There  still  exists  at  Pasargadae  (if  the  ruins  in  the  valley  of 
the  Murghab  are  really  the  remains  of  the  ancient  capital  of 
the  Achaemenid  princes)  a  square  building  on  an  eminence 
amidst  desolate  scenery  which  may  be  this  celebrated  tomb  of 
Cyrus,  once  surrounded  by  luxuriant  parks.  It  is  now  called  the 
'  Tomb  of  Solomon's  Mother.'  Here  there  have  been  discovered 
imany  stones  inscribed  with  the  name  of  Cyrus,  and  also  a 
relief  of  a  four- winged  figure  surmounted  by  a  curious  structure 
I  like  an  Egyptian  headdress — possibly  a  portrait  of  Cyrus  set 
up  by  Cambyses.  Darius  abandoned  Pasargadae  and  built, 
sixty  miles  further  down  the  valley,  the  magnificent  city  of 
Persepolis,  called  by  the  Greeks  "  the  richest  city  under  the 

1  See  p.  144. 

N  193 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

sun " — until  Alexander  plundered  its  treasury,  where  he 
found  120,000  talents  of  gold.  On  the  site  of  Persepolis 
enormous  ruins  still  exist  of  the  architectural  works  and 
sculptures  of  Darius  and  Xerxes.  There  is  a  huge  pylon  or 
portal  with  winged  bulls,  and  some  of  the  hundred  columns 
of  the  immense  Hall  of  Xerxes,  and  the  great  flight  of  steps 
that  led  up  to  his  palace,  which,  it  is  said,  Alexander  set  on 
fire,  incited  by  the  notorious  Athenian  courtesan  Thais.  On 
the  side  of  the  Royal  Mount  near  Persepolis  are  the  tombs  of 
Darius  and  of  some  of  the  later  Persian  kings,  as  well  as 
many  monuments  of  the  Sassanidae,  who  ruled  Persia  during 
the  Roman  Empire  and  until  Persia  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
^  Mahometans.  The  tomb  of  Darius  is  cut  out  of  the  solid 
rock  in  the  middle  of  a  perpendicular  precipice  (Fig.  73) .  At 
Behistun  in  Media,  between  Babylon  and  Bcbatana,  on  the 
face  of  the  rock  in  a  precipitous  gully  there  may  still  be 
seen  the  sculptured  relief  that  records,  with  inscriptions  in 
three  Oriental  languages,  the  victories  over  revolted  provinces 
which  Darius  gained  in  the  first  three  years  of  his  reign. 

SECTION  A :  POETS  AND  PHILOSOPHERS  (560-500) 

How  far  the  political  state  of  a  country  influences  art  is  a 
question  difficult  to  answer.  Perhaps  it  might  be  possible 
to  discover  some  apparent  connexion  between  the  events 
related  in  the  last  chapter  and  the  fact  that  in  the  Hellenic 
world  during  this  period,  although  many  magnificent  temples 
were  erected  and  sculpture  was  beginning  to  show  signs  of 
the  coming  glory,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  from  surviving 
fragments  no  really  great  poetry  was  written — nothing  at  all 
comparable  with  that  of  Sappho  or  Alcaeus — while  during  the 
next  century  or  so  more  great  poetry,  as  well  as  great  sculpture 
and  architecture  and  oratory  and  philosophy,  was  produced  by 
one  single  city  of  Greece  than  we  can  perhaps  find  in  any  other 
century  of  the  world's  history. 

At  Athens,  as  we  have  seen,  the  first  beginnings  of  the 
Attic  drama  were  made,  during  the  rule  of  the  Peisistratidae, 
194 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

by  Thespis,  who  introduced  dialogue  into  the  rude  choruses 
of  vintage  festivals.  He  was  followed  by  Choerilus  and 
Phrynichus  and  Pratinas  and  others,  by  whom  these  Dionysiac 
performances  were  developed  into  drama.  All  these  three 
must  have  written  plays  of  no  mean  value,  for  they  contended 
not  unsuccessfully  with  Aeschylus  himself  in  his  younger 
days.  Of  their  works  we  know  scarcely  anything.  Choerilus 
wrote  something  like  150  pieces.  Phrynichus  gained  a  tragic 
victory  in  511,  and  some  eighteen  years  later  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  write  a  drama  representing  the  capture  of  Miletus 
by  the  Persians  (494),  which  so  painfully  affected  the  Athe- 
nians that  he  was  fined  1000  drachmae.  Sixteen  years  later 
(478)  he  gained  the  prize  with  the  Phoenissae.  In  this  play 
he  gave  a  description  of  the  battle  of  Salamis  which  Aeschylus 
is  said  to  have  imitated  in  his  Persae.^  But  we  are  here 
encroaching  on  what  belongs  to  the  next  century. 

Of  other  Greek  poets,  or  verse-writers,  of  the  period  560-500 
the  most  notable  are  Theognis,  Xenophanes,  Ibycus,  Anacreon, 
and  Simonides  of  Geos. 

It  may  be  remembered  that  one  of  the  cities  which  fell 
under  the  rule  of  a  tyrant  was  Megara.  About  the  year  640 
Theagenes  overthrew  the  aristocratic  party  and  held  power 
for  some  time  ;  but  he  was  ejected,  and  for  the  next  century 
the  state  suffered  from  endless  conflicts  between  the  nobles 
and  the  people,  in  the  midst  of  which  troubles  the  Athenians, 
at  Solon's  instigation,  wrested  Salamis  from  Megara,  and 
even  for  a  time  occupied  her  port,  Nisaea.  Among  the  nobles 
banished  during  a  temporary  supremacy  of  the  democratic 
party  was  Theognis.  He  seems  to  have  spent  many  years 
in  exile  in  Sicily  and  Kuboea  {c.  550),  but  to  have  returned 
and  lived  at  Megara  until  the  Persian  peril  was  imminent  ; 
for  in  his  poem  he  prays  Apollo  to  "  keep  far  from  this  city 
the  savage  host  of  the  Medes."  Of  the  1368  lines  in  elegiac 
metre  which  are  attributed  to  Theognis  (collected  about 
400  B.C.),  about  half — those  addressed  to  a  young  nobleman, 
Gyrnus — are   perhaps    authentic.     They  pour    the  bitterest 

1  See  p.  315.    In  Aristophanes'  Frogs  (1296)  this  charge  seems  rebutted. 

195 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
contempt  on  the  '  bad  '  and  '  cowardly  '  (KaKoi,  SeiXoi) — 
cant  terms  among  the  aristocrats  for  the  working  classes — and 
call  upon  the  '  good '  and  *  brave  '  (ay aOoi,  ea-OXol)  to  trample 
on  the  neck  of  their  hated  inferiors  and  to  keep  themselves 
from  the  contamination  of  the  common  herd.  Theognis 
laments  that  Megara  is  still  the  same  but  her  people  are  all 
changed,  that  for  the  sake  of  gold  the  noble  deigns  to  wed  the 
daughter  of  the  vile  plebeian,  and  that  those  who  once  were 
the  good  are  now  base  and  vile.  Historically  all  this  is  of 
interest.  It  seems  also  to  have  been  thought  valuable 
educationally,  for  it  was  much  used  by  schoolmasters  and  by 
lecturing  Sophists  ;  but  regarded  as  poetry  it  is  very  poor 
stuff,  about  on  a  level  with  Tupper's  Proverbial  Philosophy, 
or  even  below  it,  being  tainted  with  virulence  and  a  maudlin 
pessimism.  1 

Of  a  very  different  character  are  the  verses  of  Xenophanes. 
He  is,  as  we  shall  see,  more  important  as  a  thinker  than  as  a 
poet,  but  the  vigorous  lines  in  which  he  expressed  some  of  his 
convictions  are  very  notable  not  only  for  their  thoughts 
but  also  for  their  form.  In  his  chief  poem  {Hepl  ^vcrecog,  'On 
Nature  '),  of  which  fragments  survive,  he  inveighs  against  the 
popular  anthropomorphic  conception  of  Deity,  and  especially 
against  Homer,  and  Hesiod  for  attributing  human  weaknesses 
and  follies  to  the  gods.  "  God,"  he  says,  "  is  wholly  Sight  and 
wholly  Thought  and  wholly  Hearing,  and  with  no  effort  He 
rules  all  things  by  the  working  of  His  mind.  .  .  .  There  is  one 
God,  supreme  among  divinities  and  men,  hke  unto  mortals 
neither  in  body  nor  in  thought."  The  Aethiop,  he  says,  makes 
his  gods  black,  the  Thracian  makes  his  blue-eyed  and  blond, 
and  if  horses  and  oxen  and  lions  had  hands  and  could  write 
and  do  handiwork  as  men,  they  would  have  formed  con- 
ceptions and  made  images  of  gods  in  their  own  likeness. 
We  possess  also  fragments  of  his  elegiacs,  in  which  are  found 
many  wise  and  manly  sayings  about  self-restraint  and  the 

^  He  steals,  and  spoils  in  stealing,  the  well-known  saying,  which  King  Midas 
learnt  from  the  god  Silenus,  and  which  Sophocles  used  with  such  pathetic 
effect,  that  "  The  happiest  lot  is  never  to  have  been  born — or  to  return  as  soon 
as  possible  thither  whence  we  came." 

196 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

true  enjoyment  of  life,  and  a  fine  passage  in  which  he  contrasts 
the  glory  won  by  Olympic  victors  with  that  which  wisdom 
confers  on  a  man.  "  If  any  one  should  win  by  swiftness  of  foot, 
or  in  the  pentathlon,  there  where  is  the  precinct  of  Zeus  by  the 
streams  of  the  Pisa,  or  else  by  wrestling,  or  by  being  skilled 
in  painful  boxing,  or  that  formidable  contest  that  they  call 
the  pancratium,  he  would  be  granted  a  conspicuous  front  seat 
at  the  games,  and  food  would  be  given  him  by  the  city  from 
public  funds  and  a  gift  such  as  to  be  an  heirloom  for  ever  ; 
or  e'en  if  he  won  the  victory  by  means  of  his  horses,  and  not 
by  his  own  strength,  he  would  gain  all  these  things  .  .  .  but 
he  would  not  deserve  them  as  I  do  ;  for  better  than  the 
strength  of  man  or  of  horses  is  our  [human]  wisdom.'* 
Xenophanes  was  born  at  the  Ionian  city  Colophon,  but  left 
it  (some  say,  banished  on  account  of  his  heretical  poem)  at 
the  age  of  twenty-five.  In  the  fragment  which  tells  us  this 
he  says  that  he  is  already  ninety- two  years  old,  having 
"tossed  about  through  Hellenic  lands"  for  sixty-seven  years. 
In  another  fragment  he  asks  himself  :  "  How  old  wast  thou 
when  the  Mede  arrived  ?  "  It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that 
he  left  Colophon  on  account  of  the  Persian  invasion  under 
Harpagus  [c.  545),  when  the  Phocaeans  abandoned  their  city 
and  sailed  to  Corsica.  We  have  already  seen  (p.  123)  that  he 
possibly  joined  these  Phocaeans  in  founding  Elea,  where  he 
is  said  to  have  lived  in  very  modest  circumstances  to  about 
his  hundredth  year.  We  shall  hear  more  of  him  as  a  philosopher. 
At  the  semi-Oriental  court  of  Samos  we  find  the  poets  Ibycus 
and  Anacreon  (c.  550-522).  Ibycus,  a  native  of  Rhegium, 
is  said  to  have  been  tutor  to  Poly  crates.  From  the  few  lines 
that  we  possess  of  his  voluptuously  imaginative  poetry,  and 
from  the  fact  that  he  is  called  by  Suidas  the  "  maddest  of  all 
love-poets,"  one  may  infer  what  was  his  influence  on  the  youth- 
ful prince.  But  it  should  be  remarked  that,  as  far  as  one  can 
judge  from  a  few  lines,  there  was  in  Ibycus  (as  also  in  the 
genuine  Anacreon)  intense  passion  without  any  of  that  effemi- 
nate sentimentality  which  is  found  in  later  Greek  love-poetry. 
His  conception  of  Eros  is  that  of  a  strong  and  terrible  deity, 

197 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
"  like  the  Thracian  Boreas  blazing  with  lightning,"  or  of  an 
insidious  and  mighty  wizard :  "  From  under  dark  eyebrows 
shooting  forth  ravishing  glances  with  enchantments  of  every 
kind,  he  casteth  me  into  the  immeasurable  toils  of  the  Cyprian 
goddess."  He  is  said  also  to  have  composed  epic  poems  similar 
to  those  of  the  Cyclic  writers.  The  story  of  his  death  at  the 
hands  of  robbers  and  of  the  detection  of  the  crime  has  become 
well  known  through  Schiller's  fine  ballad,  The  Cranes  oflbycus^ 
Anacreon  was  a  native  of  Teos,  in  Ionia.  When  the  city 
was  taken  by  Harpagus  (544)  he  migrated  to  Abdera,  in  Thrace. 
Thence  he  came  to  Samos,  and  lived  there  until  the  crucifixion 
of  Polycrates  in  523,  when  Hipparchus  is  said  to  have  sent  a 
trireme  to  bring  him  to  Athens.  Here  he  spent  some  years, 
but  probably  returned  to  Abdera  or  Teos.  He  died  two  years 
after  the  battle  of  Salamis,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five,  choked 
by  a  grape-stone.  The  Athenians  erected  a  statue  of  him 
(seen  by  Pausanias)  in  the  characteristic  guise  of  a  drunken 
old  man.  Much  that  passed  under  the  name  of  Anacreon  is 
evidently  the  product  of  '  Anacreontic  '  poets  of  later  times. 
Some  of  these  Anacreontic  odes  are  exceedingly  clever  and 
pretty,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  Address  to  a  Painter,  which 
was  adduced  by  lycssing,  in  his  Laocoon,  as  an  example  of  the 
kind  of  pictorial  description  that  poetry  should  not  attempt. 
It  is  nevertheless  very  charming,  and  ends  in  a  most  ingenious 
conceit.  "  Come,  good  painter,"  exclaims  the  poet,  "  paint 
my  absent  mistress  as  I  bid  thee."  He  then  gives  exact  details 
— the  soft  black  locks,  the  ivory  brow,  the  milk  and  roses  of 
the  cheeks,  the  marble  neck  and  bust;  but,  as  if  feeling  the 
uselessness  of  all  such  word-painting,  he  bids  the  painter  stop, 
and,  turning  to  the  picture  created  by  his  own  imagination,  he 
calls  upon  it  to  speak  and  answer  him.  It  is  exceedingly  clever 
and  pretty.  But  this  is  not  how  Homer  and  Shakespeare 
make  us  realize  the  beauty  of  Helen  and  Juliet.  Probably, 
however,  we  form  quite  a  wrong  idea  of  Anacreon's  poetry 
when  we  associate  him  with  such  delicately  worded  trifles, 

1  Schiller  imagines  him  journeying  from  Rhegium  to  Corinth  to  take  part 
in  the  Isthmian  Games. 

198 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

for  in  fragments  of  what  is  undoubtedly  his  work  we  find  a 
very  different  style  and  some  quite  different  conceptions. 
Thus,  like  Ibycus,  he  gives  us  a  picture  of  lyove  (Eros)  which 
offers  a  very  striking  contrast  to  the  winged,  roguish,  rose- 
fettered  urchin  of  the  Anacreontics.  "  lyike  a  smith,  with 
mighty  hammer,"  he  says,  "  Eros  smote  me  and  plunged  me 
in  a  wintry  torrent."  This  is  the  Eros  of  the  older  poets  and 
sculptors,  the  first-born  of  the  gods  of  whom  Hesiod  sings, 
the  strong-Hmbed,  manly  Eros  of  Praxiteles,  not  the  chubby 
little  Cupid  with  his  toy  bow  and  quiver  whom  we  meet  so  often 
in  Hellenistic  and  Roman  art. 

One  generally  associates  Simonides  of  Ceos  (556-467)  with 
Marathon  and  Thermopylae.  But  while  he  was  a  boy  Croesus 
was  still  reigning,  and  he  was  already  nearly  thirty  years  of 
age  when  Peisistratus  died.  About  525  he  was  invited  by 
Hipparchus  to  leave  his  home  on  the  island  of  Ceos  and  to 
come  to  Athens,  where  Anacreon  was  then  living.  When 
Hipparchus  was  murdered  by  Harmodius  and  Aristogeiton 
he  went  to  Thessaly,  probably  to  the  court  of  the  Aleuadae, 
the  princes  of  lyarissa,  whose  submission  to  the  Persians  prob- 
ably occasioned  his  return  to  Athens.  Here  he  became  intimate 
with  Themistocles  and  was  held  in  great  honour  for  his 
learning  and  poetical  genius.  Four  years  after  the  battle  of 
Salamis,  when  he  was  eighty  years  old,  he  gained  the  prize 
at  the  Great  Dionysia — the  fifty-sixth  public  prize  for  poetry, 
as  he  tells  us,  that  he  had  won.  Soon  afterwards,  together 
with  his  nephew,  the  poet  Bacchylides,  he  went  to  Syracuse, 
where,  at  the  court  of  Hiero,  he  met  Aeschylus  and  Pindar. 
He  died  at  Syracuse,  aged  eighty-nine,  in  467.  Thus  his  life 
extended  almost  from  the  age  of  Solon  to  that  of  Pericles,  and 
he  was  a  contemporary  for  a  few  years  of  both  Thales  and 
Socrates.  In  considering  him  one  is  therefore  obliged  either 
to  anticipate  or  to  defer  considerably.  He  seems  to  have 
produced  a  great  amount  of  poetry  in  his  long  life — hymns 
to  the  gods,  funeral  eulogies  and  elegies,  triumphal  odes, 
dithyrambs,  and  odes  in  honour  of  victors  at  the  games.  In 
such  odes  he,  as  also  his  nephew  Bacchylides,  had  a  powerful 

199 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
rival  in  Pindar,  by  whose  sublimity  of  imagination  and  majesty 
of  language,  it  is  said,  they  were  both  eclipsed.     Nevertheless 
some  of  the  fragments  of  his  poetry  that  survive  are  as  fine  as 
almost  anything  in  Pindar,  and  the  subject  is  certainly  some- 
times on  a  far  higher  level  than  that  of  the  ordinary  Pindaric 
ode.     In  an  encomium  on  those  who  fell  with   L^eonidas  he 
says  :  "  Splendid  was  the  fortune  of  those  who  died  at  Thermo- 
pylae and  glorious  their  fate.     Their  tomb  is  an  altar  ;  instead 
of  wails  there  is  remembrance,  and  lamentation  is  changed  into 
praise ;  such  a  shroud  neither  decay  shall  e'er  destroy,  nor 
time,  that  conquereth  all.     This  resting-place  of  brave  men 
hath  received  to  dwell  within  it  the  glory  of  Hellas."     The 
metres  of  these  odes  are  probably  such  as  had  been  used  from 
an   early   age   in   musical   compositions.     They   seem   to   be 
conditioned  by  various  musical  rhythms  (Doric,  Aeolic,  I^ydian, 
&c.),  and  to  be,  as  Horace  says  with  reference  to  Pindar,  free 
from  all  law,^  except  that  the  poem  has  certain  divisions 
(strophes,   antistrophes,  epodes,  &c.).     Simonides  is  remem- 
bered chiefly  on  account  of  the  famous  lines,  quoted  by  Hero- 
dotus, that  were  engraved  on  the  monuments  at  Thermopylae.  ^ 
Herodotus  does  not  mention  Simonides  as  their  author,  but 
Cicero    and    other    writers    do.      Another    couplet,    on    the 
Athenians  who  fought  at  Marathon,  is  attributed  to  Simonides 
by  the  rhetorician  Aristides,  and  some  lines  of  his  beginning 
"  I  am  the  bravest  of  beasts  "  may  have  been  composed  as  the 
inscription   for  the  stone  lion  which,  as  Herodotus  tells  us, 
was  set  up  at  Thermopylae  in  memory  of  I^eonidas.     Earlier 
in  life  (c.  506)  he  wrote,  it  is  said,  an  epitaph  for  the  Athenians 
who  fell  in  the  Chalcidian  war.      Simonides  is  said  to  have 
invented,  or  introduced,  the  letters  v,  Wj  ^,  \p. 

^  Of  the  forty -four  extant  odes  of  Pindar  only  two  have  any  decided  metrical 
similarity,  and  these  two  are  addressed  to  the  same  person  and  probably 
form  one  consecutive  piece. 

*  Thus  translated  by  Rawlinson  : 

Here  did  four  thousand  men  from  Pelops'  land 
Against  three  hundred  myriads  bravely  stand  ; 
and 

Go,  stranger,  and  to  I^acedaemon  tell 
That  here,  obeying  her  behests,  we  fell. 
200 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

The  Philosophers 

Some  of  the  older  Greek  philosophers,  such  as  Xenophanes, 
Parmenides,  and  Bmpedocles,  may  be  classed  also  among  the 
poets,  and  others,  such  as  Thales  and  Pythagoras,  would 
perhaps  be  conceded  a  like  honour  if  their  writings  had  sur- 
vived. The  incomparable  insight  into  the  life  of  things  which 
distinguishes  Greek  thought  from  what  often  usurps  the  name 
of  philosophy  was  due  mainly  to  the  poetical  spirit  that 
animated  it.  As  Plato  tells  us,  the  truths  which  are  the  object 
of  the  '  lover  of  wisdom  '  cannot  be  learnt  in  the  same  way 
as  scientific  facts,  but  only  by  the  help  of  our  imaginative 
faculties  and  by  contemplation ;  and  his  statement  is  con- 
firmed by  Aristotle  himself,  who  says  that  "  poetry  is  more 
philosophical  and  more  worthy  of  serious  regard  than  history.*' 

In  the  Greek  thinkers  of  the  period  that  we  are  examining 
there  are  noticeable  three  distinct  methods  of  regarding  the 
universe.  The  Ionic  philosophers,  fixing  their  gaze  on  the 
visible  order  of  things,  endeavoured  to  discover  the  prime 
element  or  self-created  and  self-moving  elementary  substance 
to  which  the  material  universe  owes  its  origin  and  existence. 
The  Eleatic  school,  of  which  Xenophanes  was  the  founder, 
sought  the  one  true  existence  behind  appearances,  denying 
the  reality,  or  even  the  very  existence,  of  the  material  world. 
Pythagoras  taught  that  the  life  of  things — that  which  alone 
gives  them  any  true  existence — is  the  relation  that  they  bear 
to  the  one  life  of  all  (as  numbers  to  unity),  and  that  their 
nature  and  their  reality  as  objects  of  the  sensible  universe 
depend  on  the  relation  that  they  bear  (Hke  numbers)  to  one 
another.  Thus,  all  things  being  bound  together  into  a  cosmos 
by  proportion,  the  universe  is  of  the  nature  of  harmony.  To 
give  any  full  and  systematic  account  of  the  theories  of  these 
early  Greek  thinkers  is  here  impossible,  but  if  the  essential 
characteristics  of  the  three  schools  are  kept  in  mind  the  follow- 
ing facts  will  perhaps  fall  into  place  and  offer  a  fairly  intelligible 
picture. 

Thales  of  Miletus  (c.  636-546)  was  the  first  of  the  Ionic 

201 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
'  Physicists,'  and  is  regarded  as  the  father  of  Greek  philosophy, 
as  well  as  the  chief  of  the  Seven  Sages.  Herodotus  asserts 
that  he  was  of  Phoenician  origin,  and  possibly  the  Semitic 
strain  may  account  for  genius  in  his  case,  as  it  has  done  in 
others.  When  Thales  was  still  a  young  man,  Miletus,  then 
"  a  rich  and  powerful  city  "  and  the  mother  of  many  colonies, 
fell  under  the  rule  of  the  tyrant  Thrasybulus  (p.  130),  the 
friend  and  Machiavellian  adviser  of  Periander;  and  it  remained 
under  his  rule  for  more  than  forty  years.  Thales  is  said  to 
have  visited  Egypt  and  to  have  acquired  there  the  knowledge 
of  geometry  and  astronomical  calculation  which  enabled  him 
to  foretell  the  eclipse^  that  put  an  end  to  the  battle  between 
Astyages  of  Media  and  the  I^ydian  king  Alyattes  (585) .  Possibly 
he  also  learnt  in  Egypt  a  certain  amount  of  geology — enough 
to  make  him  a  '  sedimentarist '  and  a  believer  in  water  as  the 
prime  element — for  Herodotus,  who  also  was  in  Egypt,  gives 
us  a  long  description  of  the  formation  of  the  country  by  alluvial 
deposit,  which  he  held  to  have  been  going  on  for  some  12,000 
years.  Miletus  was  harassed  a  good  deal  by  Alyattes,  but 
under  Croesus  the  Milesians  (almost  alone  of  the  Ionian  Greeks) 
retained  their  independence,  and  Thales  is  said  to  have  advised 
his  fellow-citizens  not  to  aid  the  I^ydian  king  against  Cyrus — 
advice  which  probably  saved  the  city  from  being  taken  by 
Harpagus.  But  the  anxiety  caused  by  the  advance  of  Persia 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Thales  tried  to  persuade  th^Ionians 
to  form  a  '  confederation,'  with  Teos  as  capital.  It  must  have 
been  soon  after  this  that  he  died. 

Whether  Thales  wrote  anything  is  not  known.  What  we 
know  of  his  doctrines  we  learn  from  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  other 
writers.  The  fact  that  he  chose  water  as  the  prime  substance 
should  be  connected  closely  with  the  fact  that  he  conceived 
such  prime  substance  to  be  in  perpetual  motion,  and  mind, 

1  The  Chaldaeans,  from  whom  possibly  (but  not  probably)  the  Egyptians 
learnt  their  astronomy,  are  said  to  have  registered,  or  calculated,  eclipses 
from  about  720.  They  are  said  to  have  believed  the  world  to  have  existed  for 
172,000  years.  But  the  Indian  sages  claim  an  antiquity  of  two  million  years 
for  their  astronomical  tables,  and  doubtless  the  most  ancient  names  of  the 
constellations  are  of  Indian  origin. 

202 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

or  intelligence,  to  be  present  wherever  there  was  motion  ;  ^ 
and,  as  motion  exists  everywhere  in  the  universe,  he  asserted 
that  "  all  is  full  of  gods,"  and  that  even  the  kinetic  power  of 
the  magnet  and  of  amber  proved  their  possession  of  what  he 
called  a  '  soulless  soul '  (or  '  lifeless  vitality  ').  Cicero,  indeed, 
says  that  Thales  spoke  of  the  '  Mind  of  the  Universe  '  as  being 
equivalent  to  '  God,'  but  it  is  probable  that  his  theories  were 
unconnected  with  religious  ideas — that  is,  that  they  were 
entirely  materialistic  and  without  any  assumption  of  a  spiritual 
or  intellectual  '  first  cause,*  such  as  was  proclaimed  later  by 
Anaxagoras.  Consequently,  in  order  to  account  for  move- 
ment he  was  obliged  to  conceive  his  prime  substance  as  self- 
moving,  and,  indeed,  self -created,  and  was  thus  driven  to  face 
the  same  difficulties  that  all  materialists  are  forced  to  encounter. 
Some  writer  has  remarked  that "  a  lake  formed  by  the  Maeander 
i  now  covers  the  native  city  of  the  man  who  taught  that  every- 
thing comes  from  and  returns  to  water.'*  The  story  of  his 
falling  down  a  well  into  his  favourite  element  while  star- 
gazing is  perhaps  a  playful  invention. 

In  connexion  with  Thales  it  may  be  interesting  to  raise  the 
question  how  far,  if  at  all,  Greek  philosophy  was  indebted  to 
the  philosophy  of  the  Bast.     It  is  indubitable  that  Thales  and 
Pythagoras,    and   perhaps    other    early    Greek   philosophers, 
visited  Egypt,  and  perhaps  other  Eastern  lands,  and  it  seems 
possible  that,  as  far  as  their  external  form  is  concerned,  some 
of  the  doctrines  of  Greek  thinkers,  such  as  that  of  '  trans- 
migration,' had  an  Oriental  or  Egyptian  origin,*  and  that  the 
belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  which  we  find  so  strongly 
^  asserted  by  Socrates,  was  not  evolved  by  Greek  thought,  but 
introduced   from   Eastern   sources ;     moreover,    in   Vedanta 
j  philosophy  there  are  doctrines  of  '  abstraction '  and  of  the 
kriune  nature  of  the  Deity  (as  Intelligence,  Matter,  and  Multi- 
tude)   which   have   a   singular   resemblance   to   the  Socratic 
doctrine  of  the  ''  release  and  purification  of  the  body  "  and  to 

^  Cf.  "And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."    The 
theory  of  Thales  is  like  that  of  the  modern  Monist. 

^  Herodotus  asserts  this  (ii.  123),  but  no  proof  has  been  found  of  it  in 
EJgyptian  monuments. 

203 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

the  Monad  and  Triad  doctrine  of  Pythagoras,  and  others  that 
closely  resemble  the  Bleatic  denial  of  the  reality  of  the  sensible 
world  ;  but  it  is  surely  not  impossible  that  the  human  mind 
is  so  constructed  that  it  may  (perhaps  must)  arrive  at  similar 
formulae  ;  or,  if  it  be  true  that  Greece  accepted  certain  forms 
of  Eastern  thought,  it  is  no  less  true  that  Hellenic  genius 
reinspired  these  forms  with  a  new  life  so  that  they  are  as  truly 
original  creations  as  Hamlet  or  Faust. 

The  human  mind  seems  generally  to  find  no  insuperable 
difficulty  in  forming  a  vague  conception  of  an  inert  prime 
element  (more  or  less  immaterial)  existing  from  all  eternity ; 
but  for  the  conception  of  a  cosmos,  an  ordered,  differentiated 
universe,  or  even  of  '  matter '  itself,  it  is  necessary  to  account 
for  the  ordering  force,  and  one  instinctively  rejects  the  '  self- 
moved  '  material  prime  element  of  Thales  and  the  '  self-moved  ' 
atoms  of  Democritus,  of  which  we  shall  hear  later.  This 
difficulty  accounts  for  the  creative  lyove  (Eros)  of  Hesiod, 
the  "love  and  hate  of  the  atoms"  of  Empedocles,  the  Nous 
(Mind)  of  Anaxagoras,  and  all  other  such  attempts  to  visualize 
and  personify  the  mysterious  power  which  manifests  itself  in 
motion  and  life,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  Anaximander 
(c.  610-545),  9-  contemporary  and  fellow-citizen,  perhaps 
disciple,  of  Thales,  should  have  attempted  to  go  a  little  further 
toward  the  realm  of  the  Immaterial  in  his  search  for  a  first 
cause  of  motion.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  Greek 
philosopher  who  wrote  a  prose  work.  Of  this  work  (entitled, 
as  usual,  About  Nature)  nothing  but  a  few  quotations  survive, 
but  they  prove  that  the  author  proclaimed  as  the  prime  element, 
or  rather  the  first  '  principle  '  (for  he  was  the  first  to  use  the 
word  apx'/) ,  what  he  called  '  the  infinite  '  or  '  unconditioned ' 
{to  aireipov),  by  which  he  probably  meant  matter  not  exactly 
in  a  chaotic  state,  but  with  its  elements  {a-TOixeia)  not  yet 
differentiated.^  But  his  apxh  is  really  quite  as  materialistic 
as  that  of  Thales,  and  is  less  conceivable.     Instead  of  '  self-' 

^  See  Cicero,  De  Nat.  Deor.  i.  Plato  uses  to  aneipov  for  primal  '  matter  ' 
regarded  merely  as  a  passive,  potential,  formless  existence — and  this  seems 
practically  what  Anaximander  meant. 

204 


55-    Bl,ACK-FIGURED    VASES 

c.  700-500 

See  List  of  Illustrations  and  Note  D 


204 


,.^,    '"_     J**    i. 


if' 


I 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

movement '  he  has  to  imagine  '  counteracting  forces,'  such  as 
heat  and  cold,  dryness  and  moisture,  in  order  to  produce  a 
cosmos.  His  theory  that  Hving  things  were  evolved  out  of 
damp  matter  and  that  men  as  well  as  all  other  animals  were  at 
first  fish-like  has  affinity  to  modern  morphological  doctrines. 
He  is  said  to  have  invented  the  sun-dial  (though  Herodotus 
credits  the  Babylonians  with  the  invention)  and  to  have  made 
a  map  of  the  world  and  an  astronomical  globe.  The  map  is 
said  to  have  been  engraved  on  a  brass  tablet,  and  was  perhaps 
the  very  one  which  (c.  499)  Aristagoras  of  Miletus  took  over 
to  show  the  vSpartans  the  extent  of  the  Persian  Empire,  and 
for  which  Hecataeus  wrote  a  text.  A  third  Milesian,  Anaxi- 
menes,  proclaimed  as  the  apxn  an  illimitable  element  of  the 
nature  of  air — the  life-breath,  as  it  were,  of  the  universe.  This 
seems  a  relapse  ;  but  we  know  too  little  of  his  doctrines  to  be 
certain.  The  earth  he  believed  to  float  sustained  in  the  midst 
of  air,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  (Greek  ?)  to  teach 
that  the  moon's  light  came  from  the  sun.  If,  as  it  is  said,  he 
taught  Anaxagoras  (born  in  500)  and  was  himself  a  disciple 
of  Anaximander,  he  must  have  lived  to  a  great  age. 

In  connexion  with  these  Physicists  may  be  mentioned 
Heracleitus  of  Kphesus,  for,  although  he  lived  somewhat  later 
(c.  540-470),  and  although  his  genius  was  of  a  strikingly  original, 
imaginative,  and  independent  character  (justifying  his  proud 
remark,  "  1  have  gone  to  no  teacher  but  myself,"  and  perhaps 
even  justifying  the  gift  of  his  own  book  to  the  temple  of  Artemis 
as  the  most  precious  offering  he  could  make),  nevertheless 
the  fact  that  he  accepted  a '  prime  element '  makes  it  convenient 
to  class  him  with  the  other  Ionian  philosophers. 

During  most  of  the  life  of  Heracleitus  Ephesus  was  under  the 
sovereignty  of  Persia  and  the  rule  of  Greek  tyrants.  But  he 
evidently  lived  to  see  the  day  of  liberation,  for  in  his  work 
On  Nature  he  pours  bitter  disdain  on  the  Ephesian  democracy 
for  having  banished  his  friend  Hermodorus  (who,  by  the  way 
some  twenty-six  years  later  helped  the  Roman  decemviri 
to  draw  up  their  Twelve  Tables).  This  would  seem  to  prove 
that  he  wrote  the  book  after  the  recovery  of  Sestos  by  the 

205 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Athenians  and  the  liberation  of  Ionia  from  the  Persian  yoke 
(478). 

To  judge  from  the  136  short  fragments  of  his  writings 
that  survive  Heracleitus  expressed  himself  in  very  trenchant 
aphorisms.  The  following  are  some  of  them  :  "  War  is  the 
father  of  all  things  "  (i.e.  all  things  are  evolved  by  antagonistic 
forces)  ;  ''No  man  can  wade  twice  in  the  same  stream  "  [i.e. 
material  objects  are  always  changing)  ;  "  The  wisest  of  men  is 
an  ape  to  the  gods  "  \  "  I^ife  is  the  death  of  gods,  death  their 
life  "  ;  "  Men  are  mortal  gods,  gods  immortal  men  "  \  ''A  man's 
character  is  his  destiny  "  ;  "  lycaming  teaches  not  wisdom/' 
In  connexion  with  this  last  aphorism  he  added  :  ''  Otherwise 
learning  would  have  taught  Hesiod  and  Pythagoras  and 
Xenophanes  and  Hecataeus."  Still  more  strongly  he  expressed 
himself  about  Homer  and  Archilochus,  saying  that  they 
"  ought  to  be  whipped."  Such  language  is  intelHgible  enough, 
so  that  probably  it  was  the  abstruseness  of  his  doctrines  rather 
than  his  words  that  won  him  the  title  '  the  Obscure.'  Even 
Socrates  confessed  that  there  were  many  things  in  the  book 
of  Heracleitus  that  needed  a  *  Delian  diver '  to  bring  them  up 
from  their  obscure  depths. 

Heracleitus  held  fire  to  be  the  prime  element.     Possibly  he 
was  led  to  the  choice  by  Oriental  (Zoroastrian)  influence.     But 
by  '  fire '  he  meant  a  subtle,  fiery,  aetherial  substance  rather 
than  flame.     Of  this  self-kindled,  ever-vibrating  fiery  aether 
he  conceived  the  human  soul  and  the  soul  of  the  universe, 
and  even  Deity  itself,  to  consist.^    Doubtless  fire,  or  heat, 
was  believed  by  him  (as  it  is,  or  was  until  lately,  believed  i 
by  modern  science)  to  be  caused  by,  or  to  he,  vibration  ori 
undulation,  and  it  was  evidently  as  a  most  striking  form,  or 
symbol,  of  perpetual  and  inconceivably  rapid  motion  that  he  I 
chose  it,  for  all  his  philosophy  was  founded  on  the  axiom  thatj 
there  is  no  true  existence  except  in  motion,   in  mutation, 
development,  action,  transition.     "  All  is  in  flux  "  {iravra  pel) 

*  Anticipating  by  some  2400  years  the  assertion  of   the  modern  Monist, 
who  tells  us  that  the  only  possible  God  is  "the  sum  total  of  the  vibrations  of 
the  Kther."    Socrates  was  accused  by  Aristophanes  (of  course  falsely)  of  having 
enthroned  '  Aetherial  Vortex  '  in  the  place  of  Zeus, 
206 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

was  his  fundamental  dogma.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
permanent  state  of  being.  Being  (existence)  consists  in  change. 
Nothing  exists  except  in  merging  its  identity  in  something  else. 
Thus,  "  Death  is  life,  life  is  death,''  and  "  Sleep  and  waking 
are  the  same,''  or  (if  I  may  slightly  change  his  form  of  expres- 
sion and  put  some  of  his  aphorisms  into  the  words  of  three 
great  modern  poets),  ''There  is  no  Death  !  What  seems  so  is 
transition,"  ^  '*  To  sleep  is  to  wake,"  and  "  lyiving  are  the  dead, 
and  I  am  the  apparition,  I  the  spectre."  Such  doctrines,  so 
unintelligible  to  the  many,  probably  credited  him  with  the 
obscurity  and  melancholy  which  have  attached  themselves 
to  his  memory. 

Of  the  life  and  poems  of  Xenophanes  I  have  already  spoken. 
His  philosophy  offers  a  very  striking  contrast  to  that  of  Hera-  \  \ 
cleitus,  and  forms  a  part  of  the  first  rude  foundation  on  which  \  \ 
was  reared  the  Ideal  Theory  of  Plato. 

Heracleitus  asserted  that  nothing  truly  exists  except  in  so 

far  as  it  is  in  motion,  mutation,  transition — that  is,  as  a  link 

in  the  endless  chain  of  cause  and  effect.     Xenophanes,  on  the 

contrary,  asserted  that  all  motion  and  mutation  and  transition, 

(  as  well   as   the   things   that   they  affect,  are  merely  appear- 

I  ances,  the  multitudinous  phenomena  of  the  senses  [ra  iroWa), 

I  which  are  not  existent  except  so  far  as  they  stand  in  relation 

to  the  one  eternal   and    immutable  Reality,  the  "  unmoved 

source  of  motion"  and  the  only  source  of  all  being.     In  his 

•  poetry,  as  we  have  seen,  he  gives  this  immutable  and  eternal 

i  Reality  the  name  of  God.     As  a  philosopher  he  calls  it  the 

One — an  expression  used  also  by  Pythagoras  and  by  Plato. 

iBut  though  he  held  that  things  of  the  senses  (the  Many)  are 

non-existent  in  their  variety  and  their  mutations  and  their 

relation  to  one  another,  he  asserted  that  they  exist  truly  by 

virtue  of  their  relation  to  the  One.     Thus  the  keystone  of 

the  Bleatic  school  is  ra  iravra  ev  ('  All  things  One ')    rather 

than  TO  eV  Km  TOL  iravra  ('The  One  and  the  Many'),  which 

vvas  the  formula  of  Platonic  philosophy  ;  and  we  should  regard 

^  In  the  Phaedo  Socrates  (or  Plato)  speaks  of  transition  from  life  to  death 
and  from  death  to  life  in  reference  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

207 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
the  creed  of  Xenophanes  as  pantheistic  rather  than  duaHstic — 
that  is,  as  identifying  spirit  and  matter  rather  than  separating 
them  by  an  impassable  gulf,  as  Plato  seems  to  do.  But  how- 
ever that  may  be,  it  is  clear  that  Xenophanes  himself  allowed 
the  practical  existence  of  sensible  objects  and  of  change  and 
motion — allowed,  as  Socrates  did,  that  such  phenomena, 
although  not  the  objects  of  true  knowledge,  could  be  used  as 
'  rafts  '  to  carry  us  across  the  sea  of  human  life — whereas  some 
of  his  successors,  such  as  Parmenides  and  Zeno,  insisted  on  the 
absolute  non-existence  of  the  natural  world,  and  were  thus 
landed  in  absurdities.  Under  Zeno  the  sublime  philosophy 
of  the  founder  degenerated  into  metaphysical  quibbles  and 
paradoxes  and  puzzles  about  the  infinitely  small  and  great, 
such  as  the  puzzle  of  Achilles  and  the  tortoise.  He  denied  not 
only  the  absolute  reahty  but  also  the  practical  existence  of 
the  sensible  world  and  the  possibility  of  motion — a  doctrine 
refuted,  it  is  said,  by  an  unbehever  who  rose  from  his  seat 
and  walked  across  the  lecture-room,  or  lecture-portico,  of  the 
philosopher.     Hence  the  expression  Solvitur  amhulando. 

The  one  doctrine  of  real  importance  in  the  philosophy  of 
Xenophanes,  and  that  which  places  it  on  a  level  quite  different 
from  that  of  the  Ionic  Physicists,  is  that  which  asserts  the 
reality  of  things  to  depend  on  their  relation  to  the  one  true 
existence — a  doctrine  substantially  the  same  as  that  of  Socrates, 
who  taught  that  everything  exists  by  virtue  of  its  true,  not  its 
apparent,  cause,  and  that  the  only  true  knowledge  is  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  cause  of  things. 

Pythagoras  {c.  570-490)  was  a  contemporary  of  Xenophanes 
and  a  generation  earher  than  Heracleitus.  He  and  Xeno- 
phanes, living  only  some  120  miles  distant  from  each  other  in 
Southern  Italy,  may  be  supposed  to  have  met ;  but  there  was 
evidently  not  much  mutual  admiration,  if  we  may  judge  from 
some  very  contemptuous  verses  of  Xenophanes.  "  They  relate," 
he  says,  "  that  once  when  he  [Pythagoras]  was  going  past 
while  a  puppy  was  being  whipped,  he  was  touched  with  pity 
and  exclaimed  :  '  I^eave  off  !  Beat  him  not !  for  he  is  the 
soul  of  a  friend  of  mine.  I  recognized  it  at  once  by  his  voice.'  " 
208 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

Pythagoras  was  a  Samian,  but  about  540,  after  having  visited 
the  East  and  Egypt/  he  left  Samos,  perhaps  in  order  to  escape 
from  the  frivolous  court  of  Poly  crates,  and  settled  in  Croton. 
Here  he  seems  to  have  gained  great  influence  with  the  wealthy 
aristocratical  party.  Three  hundred  Crotoniats  he  formed  into 
an  Order,  bound  together  by  vows  of  allegiance  and  secrecy, 
after  the  fashion  of  Freemasons,  whom  they  also  resembled  in 
possessing  secret  signs.  On  new  members  a  period  of  proba- 
tion, some  say  of  seven  years,  was  imposed,  during  which  they 
were  tested  in  their  powers  of  keeping  silence  (like  the  Trap- 
pists)  and  in  keeping  their  temper  and  in  mental  capacities. 
Only  a  few  were  initiated  into  the  secret  (esoteric)  doctrines 
and  rites,  which  were  perhaps  of  an  Orphic  character,  and 
seem  to  have  been  specially  connected  with  the  worship  of 
Apollo  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  Pythagoras  was  identified  by 
his  followers  with  Apollo  and  that  he  laid  claim  (as  Empedocles 
did  later)  to  supernatural  powers.  The  rule  of  the  Order 
seems  to  have  included  strict  abstinence  from  animal  food — 
a  practice  necessarily  involved  in  the  creed  of  transmigration 
of  souls.  2  Music  and  athletics  formed  an  indispensable  part 
in  the  system.  When  a  member  wished  to  leave  the  Order 
he  was  presented  with  double  his  original  subscription  and 
allowed  to  depart,  but  over  his  seat  in  the  refectory  was 
erected  a  monument,  and  funeral  rites  were  celebrated  to 
intimate  his  philosophic  decease.  To  the  chief  lodge  (so  to 
speak)  at  Croton  were  affiliated  others  in  Taras,  Sybaris, 
Metapontion,  and  other  towns. 

Perhaps  it  was  owing  to  the  political  influence  of  these 
aristocratical  Pythagorean  societies  that  in  510  (the  year  when 
Tarquin  and  Hippias  were  expelled)  Croton  utterly  destroyed 

^  Herodotus  evid-ently  alludes  (iL  123)  to  him,  though  he  declines  to  mention 
his  name,  when  he  speaks  of  certain  Greek  writers  having  appropriated  and 
published  as  their  own  the  Egyptian  (?)  doctrine  of  Transmigration.  In 
iv.  95  he  calls  him  "  not  the  meanest  of  Greek  philosophers." 

*  Beans  were  also  taboo,  if  we  are  to  take  Horace's  joke  seriously  {Sat. 
II,  vi.  63),  who  intimates  that  some  relative  of  Pythagoras  had  been  a  bean. 
Grote  rejects  Pythagorean  vegetarianism  as  a  fable  because  Milo  must  have 
had  a  meat  diet  1 

o  209 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Sybaris,^  which  had  led  into  the  field,  we  are  told,  an  army  of 
300,000  men,  against  whom  Milo,  the  celebrated  Pythagorean 
wrestler  (six  times  Olympic  victor),  did  deeds  like  those  of 
Samson.  Soon  after  this  the  popular  party,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Cylon,  gained  the  upper  hand  in  Croton,  and  the 
Pythagorean  societies  fell  under  ban.  Milo's  house,  where 
forty  disciples  were  assembled,  was  set  on  fire  by  the  mob, 
and  all  but  two  perished — possibly  Pythagoras  among  them  ; 
but  some  say  that  he  had  fled  to  Taras  some  years,  pre- 
viously, and  thence  to  Metapontion,  where  40a  years  later, 
Cicero  tells  us,  his  tomb  was  to  be  seen.^  Probably  Pytha- 
goras, like  Socrates  and  many  other  wise  men,  wrote  nothing, 
although  there  is  a  story  of  his  having  left  all  his  writings  to 
his  daughter  Damo,  with  orders  not  to  publish  them — a  com- 
mand that  she  kept,  although  in  great  poverty.  There  are 
extant  so-called  '  Golden  Verses  *  (seventy-one  hexameters) 
which  are  attributed  to  him,  but  they  are  evidently  a  late  fabri- 
cation. One  of  his  disciples,  Philolaus,  who  is  said  to  have 
escaped  from  the  conflagration  and  taken  refuge  in  Greece, 
incorporated  the  doctrines  of  the  school  in  a  book  (of  course 
called  On  Nature),  but  only  a  few  questionable  relics  of  this 
book,  as  also  of  about  ninety  other  works  by  the  older 
Pythagoreans,  survive  (including  some  fragments  ascribed  to 
Archytas,  the  famous  Tarentine  mathematician,  well  known  to 
readers  of  Horace).  The  disappearance  of  these  old  records  is 
doubtless  due  to  the  fierce  persecutions  to  which  the  sect  was 
exposed.  For  the  life  and  doctrines  of  Pythagoras  we  are 
almost  entirely  dependent  on  a  few  comments  of  Aristotle 
and  on  the  writings  of  Porphyry  and  lamblichus,  neo-Platonists 
of  the  third  century  A.D.,  at  which  epoch,  at  Alexandria,  there 
was  a  great  revival  of  the  mystical  doctrines  of  the  school  and  an 
attempt  to  proclaim  Pythagoras  as  the  anti-Christian  Messiah. 

1  Sixty-seven  years  later,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  revive  Croton,  Thurii 
was  founded  (443)  in  the  vicinity.  Herodotus  probably  took  part  in  the 
founding  of  Thurii  and  saw  the  ruins  of  Sybaris. 

*  In  Cicero's  time  the  revival  of  Pythagoreanism  was  beginning.  In  early 
days  the  Romans,  when  bidden  by  an  oracle  to  erect  a  statue  to  the  wisest 
of  the  Greeks,  erected  one  to  Pythagoras. 

210 


56.  Ancient  Bi^ack-figured  Amphora 

See  List  of  Illustrations  and  Note  D 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

Plato  himself  borrowed  largely  from  Pythagoras.  Timaeus  of 
lyocri,  a  Pythagorean,  is  said  to  have  been  Plato's  teacher,  and 
in  the  dialogue  Timaeus  Plato  propounds  views  on  the  physical 
universe  which  are  perhaps  mainly  Pythagorean  ;  but  it  is 
as  impossible  to  say  how  far  they  are  Platonized  as  to  say  how 
far  the  doctrines  of  Socrates  were  Pythagorized  by  Plato. 
In  the  Phaedrus  Plato  uses,  doubtless  merely  as  a  parable, 
the  doctrine  of  Transmigration  and  of  the  ten  periods  of  the 
soul  as  it  was  taught  by  Pythagoras,  and  the  Platonic  theory 
of  Ideas  is  founded  on  Pythagorean  and  Eleatic  doctrines  of  the 
One  and  the  Many. 

The  main  thesis  of  the  Pythagorean  system  of  philosophy 
is  that  the  human  mind  recognizes  within  itself  certain  laws 
without  which  thought  is  impossible,  and  in  these  laws  it 
possesses  a  revelation  of  the  natural  laws  to  which  the  structure 
of  the  universe  is  due.  Now  of  these  intellectual  laws  those 
of  number  are  the  most  immutable  and  categorical,  and  the 
universe  (both  the  sensible  and  the  intellectual)  is  an  '  imita- 
tion '  or  '  realization  '  of  the  laws  of  number,  where  Deity  is 
the  omnipresent  Unit  or  Monad — of  which  all  numbers  consist, 
though  it  is  itself  no  number — and  prime  (brute,  chaotic)  matter 
is  the  Duad,  and  the  ordered  Cosmos  (formed  by  the  addition 
of  the  creative  Monad  to  the  chaotic  Duad)  is  the  Triad.  ^ 

Now,  strictly  speaking,  the  sensible  universe,  according  to 
this  theory,  is  number  realized  in  space,  and  when  number  is 
realized  in  space  it  is  geometry.  Therefore  we  find  that  with 
Pythagoras,  as  with  Plato,  geometry  was  the  foundation  of 
all  true  science.  He  himself  is  said  to  have  discovered  the  most 
important  fact  of  the  equality  of  the  square  on  the  long  side  of 

1  a  right-angled  triangle  to  the  sum  of  the  squares  on  the  shorter 
sides — and  to  have  sacrificed  a  hundred  oxen  as  thank-offering.  ^ 
But  in  his  philosophy  he  seems  to  have  adopted  numbers,  as 

j  being  more  readily  expressive  of  ratio  and  proportion  than  are 

^  Natural  objects  (under  three  dimensions)  are  triads,  and  human  nature 
is  a  triad,  and  the  mind's  conception  of  Deity  is  also  a  triad.  I^ater  Pytha- 
goreans made  the  Four  represent  solidity,  the  Five  quality  (colour,  &c.),  the 
Six  vitality,  the  Seven  mind,  and  so  on. 

^  Hardly  consistent  with  his  transmigration  and  vegetarian  principles  ! 

211 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
lines  and  areas.  As  numbers  are  dependent  for  their  individual 
existence  on  the  unit,  so  sensible  objects  are  dependent  for 
their  specific  existence  on  their  true  cause — the  One,  or  Deity. 
But  the  existence  of  natural  objects  as  phenomena  depends  on 
their  relation  to  all  other  such  objects  (nothing  being  of  any 
meaning  or  value,  or  conceivable,  by  itself),  in  the  same  way 
as  every  intelligible  number  stands  related,  in  a  certain  ratio 
or  proportion,  to  every  other  number.  Thus  all  things  of  the 
senses  are  knit  together  into  one  harmonious  whole,  and  the 
natural  universe  is  a  Harmony  ^ — such  as  also  modern  science 
proclaims  it  to  be  "  Throughout  the  processes  of  Nature,'' 
says  Tyndall,  "  we  have  interdependence  and  harmony,  and 
the  main  value  of  physics  as  a  mental  training  consists  in  the 
tracing  out  of  this  interdependence  and  the  demonstration 
of  this  harmony." 

In  passing  it  may  be  observed  that  many  phenomena  seem 
(though  this  may  be  merely  due  to  the  constitution  of  the 
human  mind)  to  be  the  results  of  the  vibration  of  some  one 
prime  element  ('  ether '  ?)  at  different  rates,  so  that  we  have 
light  and  electricity  and  the  octaves  of  sound  and  colour,  and 
possibly  of  taste  and  smell,  all  related  and  standing  in  certain 
numerical  ratios  each  to  the  other.  But  their  specific  exist- 
ence, as  light  and  sound  and  so  on,  is  due,  as  Pythagoras 
expresses  it,  to  their  relation,  not  to  each  other,  but  to  the 
Unit.  Thus,  when  Professor  Romanes  asserted  that  with  one 
persistent  force  and  one  prime  matter  he  could  account  for 
the  universe,  Darwin  answered  :  "  1  could  not  disprove  it  if 
some  one  should  assert  that  God  had  given  certain  attributes 
to  force  so  that  it  develops  into  light,  heat,  electricity,  and 
magnetism — and  perhaps  even  into  life." 

This  doctrine  of  the  harmonious  system  of  the  universe  is 
one  of  the  most  suggestive  and  illuminating  of  all  parables. 
But  scientifically  Pythagoras  was,   of  course,  on  the  wrong 
lines.      He  attempted  to  force  Nature  into  accordance  with| 
his  theories  ;  and  of  this  we  have  a  striking  instance  in  the 

I 

^  Hence  the  Pythagorean  '  music  of  the  spheres,'  which  our  ears  are  too  i 
dull,  or  from  long  familiarity  too  callous,  to  perceive. 

212  I 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

fact  that,  in  order  to  complete  the  mystic  '  Decad/  he  added 
a  tenth  to  the  then-known  nine  celestial  bodies  which  circled 
round  the  central  Fire  or  Watch-tower  of  Zeus.  This  tenth 
body  he  called  the  Antichthon  ('  Counter-earth  ').  How  such 
a  method  differs  from  that  by  which  Neptune  was  discovered 
need  scarcely  be  explained. 

The  gulf  between  Physics  and  Ethics  Pythagoras  conceived 
to  be  bridged  by  music,  which  is  at  once  a  subject  of  intellectual 
research  and  a  means  of  affecting  the  emotions.  The  explana- 
tion of  the  musical  intervals  and  of  harmony  as  due  to  propor- 
tion is  attributed  to  him,  although  some  accounts  of  his  experi- 
ments are  apocryphal,  seeing  that  hammers  of  different  weight 
do  not  produce  different  notes  from  the  same  anvil  or  bell. 
But  he  seems  to  have  discovered  the  fact  that  a  chord  at  the 
same  tension  vibrates  in  proportion  to  its  length  :  that  half 
the  length  produces  the  octave  above  the  original  note,  two- 
thirds  produces  a  musical  fifth,  three-fourths  a  fourth,  and 
eight-ninths  a  major  tone. 

Thus  from  Physics  to  Ethics,  from  the  sensible  world  to  the 
world  of  mind  and  morals,  we  pass  by  the  bridge  of  Music — 
climb  the  Beanstalk,  as  it  were,  and  find  ourselves  in  a  fairy- 
land where  our  dull,  boorish  materialism  not  seldom  wakes  to 
find  itself  '  translated  '  and  invested  with  an  ass's  nowl.     Even 
in  this  realm  Pythagoras,  or  later  Pythagorean  philosophy, 
ventures  to  use  the  scale  of  Number  and  reads  off  vice  as 
imperfect  and  virtue  as  perfect  proportion — a  virtuous  life 
(i.e.  virtue  realized  in  action)   as  the  straight  line,  abstract 
justice  as  the  square  number,  and  a  just  life  as  the  geometric 
square.     The  soul  he  defines  as  a  '  self-moving  number,'  or 
triune  Monad,  and  thus  asserts  it  to  be  of  the  same  nature  as 
Deity — a  connexion  that  doubtless  encouraged  his  claim  to 
supernatural  powers.     These  formulae  are,  of  course,  merely 
little  curiosities  preserved  for  us  by  later  writers,  and  are  of 
no  value  except  as  curiosities  ;    nor  can  we  regard  otherwise 
such  stories  as  that  of  the  recognition  by  Pythagoras  in  the 
temple  of  Hera  at  Argos  of  the  shield  whicn  he  had  used  (as 
Euphorbus,   the  Trojan)    in   a  former   life.      But,    however 

213 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
unworthy  of  serious  regard  they  may  appear  to  some  minds,  such 
a  parable  as  that  of  Metempsychosis,  with  its  gradual  redemp- 
tion of  the  human  soul  by  purification,  initiation,  and  intuition, 
until  it  is  fit  to  dwell  with  the  gods,  and  such  an  imaginative 
conception  as  the  harmony  of  the  universe  and  the  music  of 
the  spheres,  are  (as  Aristotle  himself  allows)  of  more  value  to 
the  true  thinker  than  much  that  goes  by  the  name  of  scientific 
metaphysics.  The  main  structure  of  the  Pythagorean  philo- 
sophy, however  dimly  it  looms  through  the  ages,  is  of  impres- 
sive grandeur — a  watch-tower  of  Zeus  overlooking  the  infinities 
of  space  and  time. 

SECTION  B  :   THE  ORDERS  OF  GREEK  ARCHITECTURE : 
SCULPTURE,  DOWN  TO  THE  PERSIAN  WARS 

Something  has  already  been  said  about  the  primitive 
shrines  of  the  Mycenaean  age  and  the  temples  of  Homeric 
times,  and  some  of  the  temples  of  the  earlier  historic  period 
have  been  mentioned.  Others  will  be  mentioned  later  in 
connexion  with  historical  events  and  with  sculpture,  and  further 
information  will  be  found  in  Note  A  at  the  end  of  this  book, 
and  can  be  supplemented  by  reference  to  the  Index  and  the 
I^ist  of  Illustrations. 

But  without  attempting  to  trace  minutely  the  evolution  of 
the  Greek  temple  or  to  describe  the  technical  details  of  Greek 
architecture  (on  which  points  full  information  can  be  found  in 
dictionaries  and  text-books)  it  may  be  well  to  state  here  the 
main  characteristics  of  the  different  orders  and  to  add  a  few 
facts  in  connexion  with  some  of  the  chief  temples. 

The  original  shrine,  generally  of  wood  or  sunburnt  brick, 
was  an  oblong,  or  rarely  a  round,  building,  like  the  ancient 
Greek  house,  with  a  porch.  Sometimes  this  porch  had  side 
walls  and  perhaps  a  couple  of  wooden  pillars  in  front,  so 
that  the  whole  building  consisted  of  a  hall  (the  shrine  proper, 
or  mo?)  and  a  closed  forecourt  (Tr/ooVao?).^  Then  the  row 
of  pillars  or  columns  was  extended  across  the  whole  front  of 

^  Ex.  the  Treasure-house  of  Megara  at  Delphi. 
214 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

the  building  and  the  side  walls  of  the  porch  were  omitted,  so 
that  an  open  portico  was  formed.^  Then  a  porch  or  portico 
was  placed  at  both  ends  of  the  building.  ^  Next,  a  row  of 
columns  was  extended  all  round  the  building,  which  was  said 
to  be  peripteros — i.e.  winged,  or  aisled — and  sometimes  the 
portico  had  two  rows  of  columns.^  Ivastly,  two  rows  of  columns 
were  placed  all  round,  and  there  were  also  columned  porches 
at  both  ends  of  the  building  itself.*  Such  a  temple  was  called 
dipteros,  '  two- winged.'  The  interior  sanctuary  (the  paog  or 
a-rtKog,  in  which  was  the  statue  of  the  divinity  facing  east,  so 
that  the  light  of  the  rising  sun  should  illuminate  it)  had  side 
walls,  but  frequently  had  also  inside  them  two  rows  of  columns 
(as  in  the  great  Paestum  temple) ,  forming  aisles  and  perhaps 
supporting  the  roof.  These  interior  aisles  were  sometimes 
formed  by  two  tiers  of  small  columns,  one  on  the  top  of  the 
other.  Whether  the  interior  building  was  generally,  or  ever, 
hypaethral — i.e.  open  to  the  sky — is  not  quite  certain.  Certain 
it  is  that  the  statue  was  not  often  unprotected  by  a  roof ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  open  space  was  only  just  enough 
to  allow  of  sufficient  light,  as  in  the  Pantheon  at  Rome. 

The  number  of  columns  in  the  front  of  a  temple  was  two, 
four,  six,  eight,  or  ten.  The  side  (counting  the  corner  columns) 
had  generally  one  more  than  double  the  number  of  the  front 
columns.  Thus  the  Parthenon  is  8  x  17,  the  Theseion  is 
6  X  13,  as  also  is  the  temple  of  Zeus  at  Olympia ;  but  Paestum 
is  6  X  14,  and  so  is  the  splendid  temple  at  Segesta  (Fig.  57). 

The  three  orders  of  Greek  architecture  are  the  Doric  (espe- 
cially used  in  Western  Hellas),  the  Ionic  (at  first  peculiar  to 
Ionia),  and  the  Corinthian.  In  the  motherland  we  find  all 
three  styles,  but  the  Doric  is  the  most  ancient. 

The  Corinthian,  with  its  slender  shaft  and  its  capital  orna- 
mented with  rows  of  acanthus  leaves,  need  not  occupy  our 
attention  now,  for  it  was  first  invented  about  the  time  of  the 
Peloponnesian  War.      The  earliest  specimen  known  (c.  430) 

1  Ex.  the  Erechtheion.  2  Ex.  the  Nike  temple  at  Athens. 

'  Ex.  the  Zeus  temple  at  Olympia  and  the  Parthenon. 
*  Ex.  the  Artemis  temple  at  Ephesus. 

215 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
is  said  to  have  been  a  single  column  (now  lost)  inserted  in  the 
Ionic  court  of  the  Doric  temple  at  Phigaleia  (Fig.  84) .  Other 
fine  examples  are  the  monument  of  Lysicrates  (Fig.  136), 
the  '  Temple  of  the  Winds/  and  the  splendid  columns  of  the 
Olympieion  at  Athens  (Figs.  54/134),  erected  by  the  Emperor 
Hadrian. 

The  Doric  order  has  a  baseless,  somewhat  tapering  column, 
surmounted  by  a  capital  composed  of  a  thick  slab  (abax,  or 
abacus)  lying  on  a  very  flat  oval  moulding  (the  echinus).  The 
columns  bear  a  plain  architrave  ('  main  beam '),  which  supports 
the  frieze  and  the  projecting  cornice. 

The  Ionic  order  has  a  slenderer  column,^  standing  on  a  base, 
and  bearing  a  capital  whose  main  characteristic  is  two  large 
spiral  volutes  (evidently  an  artistic  modification  of  the  ox-heads 
which  occur  in  Oriental  architecture,  e.g.  in  the  Persepolis 
columns).  The  columns  carry  an  entablature  composed,  as 
in  the  Doric  order,  of  architrave,  frieze,  and  cornice,  but  the 
face  of  the  architrave  is  cut  into  three  planes,  each  pro- 
jecting a  Httle  above  the  one  below  it,  and  the  friezes  of  the 
two  orders  differ  essentially.  This  difference  of  the  friezes  will 
be  noted  at  once  in  pictures  of  Doric  and  Ionic  temples. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  Ionic  frieze  is  one  undivided  space, 
either  plain  or  filled  with  a  line  of  figures  in  procession  or 
otherwise  forming  a  continuous  series,  whereas  in  the  Doric 
temples  the  frieze  consists  of  numerous  spaces  (metopes), 
either  left  plain  or  else  filled  each  by  a  single  group  of 
figures,  2  and  every  metope  is  divided  from  the  next  by  a 
kind  of  tablet  of  three  bands  sundered  by  flutings  (triglyphs). 
These  triglyphs  are  said  to  represent  the  ends  of  the  rafters, 
which  were  visible  in  the  old  wooden  temples,  and  the  small 

1  The  Ionic  column  scarcely  tapers  at  all.  Its  height  is  16  to  18  semi- 
diameters  (modules).  That  of  the  Parthenon  columns  is  12.  In  the  great 
Paestum  temple  it  is  only  8,  and  in  the  Apollo  temple  at  Corinth  {the 
most  ancient  perhaps  in  Greece)  it  is  only  yf .  The  columns  of  Atreus'  Treasury 
and  the  lyion  Gate  (Mycenae)  taper  downwards. 

^  In  the  Parthenon  the  external  frieze  consisted  of  metopes  and  triglyphs, 
but  the  frieze  of  the  inner  building  was  Ionic  in  character,  although  the 
columns  were  Doric.  This  is  the  frieze,  representing  the  Pan?ithetiaic 
procession,  which  is  in  the  British  Museum. 

2l6 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

spherical  ornaments  (mutules)  below  and  above  the  frieze  are 
supposed  to  represent  rain-drops,  or  perhaps  nail-heads. 

Another  characteristic,  especially  in  the  Doric  style,  is 
that  the  column  not  only  tapers  considerably  but  it  has  a 
slight  outward  curve  (called  the  entasis)  in  the  middle,  the 
object  of  which  may  have  been  to  correct  some  optical  error 
in  perspective.  In  the  Parthenon  this  bulge  is  scarcely  per- 
ceptible. In  the  temple  of  Demeter  at  Paestum,  or  still 
more  in  the  '  Basilica,*  it  is  disagreeably  noticeable  (Fig.  41). 
At  Phigaleia  it  seems  entirely  absent. 

The  columns  of  all  three  orders  have  almost  always  parallel 
flutings.  The  Doric  are  sharp-edged,  shallower,  and  fewer 
(twenty  in  the  Parthenon),  the  Ionic  and  Corinthian  gene- 
rally separated  by  fillets,  semicircular,  and  numbering  from 
twenty-four  up  to  thirty- two.  Sometimes  the  lower  part  of 
the  Ionic  column  was  left  plain,  or  (as  at  Ephesus)  was  used  for 
sculptured  reliefs.  In  later  times  spiral  flutings  were  sometimes 
used. 

In  point  of  size,  especially  in  regard  to  height,  Greek  temples 
are,  of  course,  not  comparable  with  our  cathedrals,  nor  with 
the  great  temples  of  the  East,  and,  as  Herodotus  himself  remarks, 
"  although  the  temple  of  Ephesus  is  worthy  of  note,  and  also 
the  temple  of  Samos,  if  all  the  great  works  of  the  Greeks  could 
be  put  together  in  one  they  would  not  equal  "  things  that 
are  to  be  seen  in  Egypt.     The  length  of  the  Olympieion  at 

I  Acragas  (Girgenti),  the  largest  temple  in  the  Hellenic  world, 
but  (like  its  Athenian  namesake)  never  completed,  was  363  feet ; 
that  of  the  Samian  Heraion  was  346,  that  of  the  (earlier) 
Ephesian  temple  was  342,  and  that  of   the  Parthenon  is  227 

i  feet.     St.  Paul's  Cathedral  is  513  feet  long  and  St.  Peter's  at 

I [  Rome  is  613  feet. 


I 


Sculpture,  down  to  the  Persian  Wars 

In  a  former  section  we  considered  some  of  the  main  charac- 
teristics of  the  religion  that  preceded  the  introduction  of  the 
Olympian  hierarchy,  and  noticed  how  the  feelings  of  awe  and 
dread  for  the  supernatural  revealed  themselves  in  grotesque 

217 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

and  horrible  effigies,  which  were  regarded  with  superstitious 
reverence.  This  fetish- worship  was  by  no  means  eradicated 
by  the  new  Olympian  religion.  Although  we  find  little  or  no 
trace  of  '  spook  *  or  superstitious  awe  in  Homer,  who  seems 
to  shrink  instinctively  from  all  that  is  grotesque,  monstrous, 
and  uncanny,  the  old  deisidaimonia  survived  (as  we  saw  in 
Hesiod's  case)  side  by  side  with  the  brighter  and  more  openly 
professed  Olympian  orthodoxy,  and  during  the  sixth  century 
there  seems  to  have  been  a  great  recrudescence  of  '  chthonian  ' 
cult,  aggravated  by  the  introduction  and  spread  of  the  Orphic 
creed  and  rites  and  the  institution,  or  revival,  of  Dionysian 
and  Eleusinian  Mysteries.  This  subject  we  shall  meet  again 
when  we  come  to  the  philosophers  of  the  fifth  century.  At 
present  it  will  suffice  to  note  the  fact  that  Greek  sculpture 
was  apparently  a  direct  evolution  from  the  fabrication  of 
grotesque  fetish-idols,  although  it  is  impossible  by  any  analysis 
to  discover  the  vital  force  which  effected  this  wondrous  develop- 
ment— a  development  which  in  many  cases,  such  as  that  of 
Egypt  and  of  Assyria  and  of  other  Oriental  nations,  has  scarcely 
taken  place  at  all,  and  in  no  other  case  has  been  so  rapid 
and  so  perfect  as  in  Greek  art.  Certainly  we  cannot  account  for 
it  by  what  we  call  civilization.  In  our  sense  of  the  word  the 
Persian  Empire  was  in  the  age  of  Aeschylus  and  Pheidias  at  a 
higher  stage  of  civilization  than  Greece,  and  in  the  Hellenic 
world  the  advent  of  a  more  scientific  learning  and  research 
and  criticism  was  contemporary  with  the  degeneracy,  and  was 
soon  followed  by  the  disappearance,  of  all  true  art,  until  its 
renascence  in  other  forms.  But  however  inexplicable  it  may 
be,  it  is  an  incontestable  fact  that  within  less  than  two  centuries 
the  superstitious  awe  attaching  to  some  ghoulish  monstrosity 
or  some  formless  stock  or  meteorite  gave  place  to  reverence 
for  the  images  of  a  Pheidian  Zeus  or  Athene — reverence  paid 
not  so  much  to  the  present  deity  as  to  the  manifestation  of  the 
grand,  the  serene,  and  the  beautiful.^ 

1  The  testimony  of  many  writers  to  the  effect  produced  by  the  Pheidian 
Zeus  at  Olympia  is  very  striking.  "  Let  a  man  sick  and  weary  in  soul,"  says 
one  of  these,  "  who  has  passed  through  many  distresses  and  sorrows,  whose 

2l8 


An  Attic  Hydria  of  the  Middle  Black-figured  Period  218 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

The  vital  power  which  effected  this  development  revealed 
its  workings  not  only  in  sculpture  but  also  in  other  creations 
of  Hellenic  genius — in  Greek  literature,  Greek  thought,  Greek 
mythology,  and  Greek  theology,  all  of  which  bear  testimony 
to  a  genius  essentially  formative  and  artistic — perhaps  we 
may  say  essentially  sculpturesque — a  genius  well  described 
as  the  converse  of  that  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  one  for  which 
the  dangers  of  idolatry  were  to  a  great  extent  neutralized  by 
poetic  imagination  and  reverence  for  the  ideally  beautiful. 

Doubtless  the  imaginative  and  allegorical  pictures  of  the 
Olympian  gods  and  the  Olympian  creed  which  we  find  in  the 
art  of  Homer  and  Pheidias  and  the  dramatists  do  not  reveal 
to  us  the  gross  anthropomorphic  superstitions  of  the  populace, 
which  were,  as  we  have  seen,  as  bitterly  denounced  by  Xeno- 
phanes  as  was  Jewish  idolatry  by  Isaiah.  Doubtless,  as  in  every 
age,  the  religion  of  the  thinker  and  the  true  artist  was  not  that 
of  the  people,  but  in  spite  of  all  the  superstitions  in  which  it 
was  involved  (and  we  need  only  think  of  Socrates  to  realize 
them)  this  anthropomorphism  of  the  popular  theology  was 
a  result  of  the  same  formative  spirit  to  which  was  due  the 
evolution  of  Greek  sculpture  from  the  formless  or  grotesque 
effigies  of  the  early  age  of  Greece. 

Whether  we  should  regard  Greek  plastic  art  as  lineally 
descended  from  Aegaean  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  Aegaean 
plastic  art  (as  we  see  by  the  Vaphio  cups)  attained  an 
astonishing  proficiency,  but  was  apparently  swept  out  of 
existence  by  the  Dorians.  It  may  have  survived  and  been 
the  germ  from  which  sprang  the  glories  of  the  Periclean  age, 
but  it  is  foolish  to  refuse  to  recognize  in  Hellenic  art,  as  in 
Hellenic  thought,  the  presence  of  many  elements  derived  from 
other  sources — from  Crete,  I^ydia,  Phrygia,  the  East,  and 
Hgypt — and  to  insist  on  an  '  autochthonous '  originality  in 
the  case  of  Greek  sculpture  or  Greek  thought  which  cannot 
be  claimed  for  Giotto,  Dante,  or  Shakespeare.     But  whether 

pillow  is  un visited  by  kindly  sleep,  stand  in  front  of  this  image  ;  he  will, 
I  deem,  forget  all  the  terrors  and  troubles  of  human  life."  (Quoted  by 
Professor  Bury.) 

219 


i 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
of  Aegaean  or  other  origin  in  regard  to  some  of  its  elements, 
the  art  of  classical  Hellas  is,  of  course,  original  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  word,  being  a  re-creation — and  that,  too,  into  a 
far  higher  existence. 

Genuine  statuary  is  said  to  have  begun  in  Greece  about 
600,  and  the  so-called  '  archaic  *  period  extends  to  the  end  of 
the  Persian  wars,  say  480.  Of  this  period  I  shall  give  a  brief 
review,  prefaced  by  a  few  remarks  on  the  fetish-worship  which 
preceded  the  attempt  to  represent  deity,  and  later  also  the 
human  form  divine,  as  a  thing  of  perfect  beauty. 

The  ancient  Greek  idol  was  often  merely  a  symbol  of  divine 
presence — sometimes  a  rude  figure  (such  as  one  finds  in 
thousands  on  sites  of  temples)  of  clay  or  wood  or  lead,  fre- 
quently grotesque  or  monstrous,  sometimes  a  formless  stock,  ^ 
or  a  '  heaven-fallen '  stone,  or  a  pillar,  such  as  we  hear  of  in 
the  Bible  and  see  in  the  Lion  Gate  at  Mycenae  and  in  pictures 
of  the  Earth-goddess.  Real  statuary  assuredly  existed  in 
Greece  (as,  of  course,  in  Egypt  and  the  East)  before  the  sixth 
century,^  and  rich  and  elaborate  relief-work  was  produced, 
as  we  see  from  the  descriptions  of  the  famous  Cypselus  chest 
and  the  carved  throne  of  the  Apollo  image  at  Amyclae.  The 
former,  which  Pausanias  saw  some  800  years  later  in  the 
Heraion  at  Olympia,  was  presented  probably  by  Periander, 
and  was  asserted  to  have  been  the  actual  chest  in  which 
Cypselus  was  hidden  by  his  mother  {c.  655).  In  any  case  it  is 
probably  the  most  ancient  specimen  of  artistic  Greek  carved 
work  (if  it  was  by  a  Greek  artist)  of  which  we  have  historical 
record.  The  reliefs,  in  cedar  wood,  ivory,  and  gold,  represented 
mythological  subjects  (Pelops,  Heracles,  Perseus,  &c.)  in  thirty- 
three  panels  arranged  in  five  parallel  rows.     The  Amyclaean 

1  These  old  wooden  idols  were  called  ^oava  ('  carved  things  ') ,  See  Hdt.  v.  82. 

'  E.g.  the  gold  and  silver  dogs  and  the  golden  torch-bearers  of  Od.  vii. 
and  the  Apollo  statue  intimated  by //.  i.  28,  and  the  statue  of  Athene  in//,  vi. 
92  and  303,  evidently  imagined  in  a  sitting  position.  A  colossal  gold-plated 
statue  of  Zeus  was  given  by  Cypselus  or  Periander  [c.  600)  to  Olympia.  Also 
we  hear  of  an  artist  of  Rhegium,  Clearchus,  who  at  a  very  early  period  made 
a  bronze  statue  (not  cast,  but  plated)  of  Zeus  at  Sparta.  Moreover,  there  is 
a  stone  sculpture  still  existing  in  Greece  that  is  far  older  than  Homer — the 
Lions  of  Mycenae. 

220 


THE   AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

throne  was  also  decorated  by  about  twenty-seven  reliefs 
(probably  in  bronze),  and  was  supported  by  figures  of  the 
Seasons,  the  Graces,  Tritons,  &c.  It  was  the  work  of  a  I^ydian 
(Magnesian)  artist,  Bathycles,  who  may  have  come  to  Sparta 
in  the  time  of  Croesus  (say  550),  but  whose  date  is  possibly 
considerably  earlier.  This  was  a  work  produced  by  a  foreign 
artist  ^  as  a  throne,  or  screen,  for  a  Greek  god.  But  in  what 
form  was  that  god  represented  ?  He  was,  as  Pausanias  tells 
us,  a  bronzen  pillar,  some  45  feet  high,  "  with  head  and  hands 
and  feet  attached."  Such  old  fetishes,  pillars  and  logs  and 
meteorites,  sometimes  quite  formless  or  else  shaped  into 
some  rude  resemblance  to  humanity  or  to  some  monstrous 
thing,  and  decked  out  with  ornaments,  were  not  seldom  pre- 
served reverentially  in  temples^ — hidden  away  like  Bambini 
and  relics  and  displayed  only  on  solemn  occasions — long  after 
a  splendid  statue  of  the  deity  had  been  erected  in  the  sanc- 
tuary. At  Troy  we  hear  of  the  Palladium,  and  at  Ephesus 
and  on  the  Tauric  Chersonese  of  the  heaven-fallen  image  of 
Artemis,  and  in  the  Brechtheion  there  was  kept  an  old  ^oavov 
of  Athene  long  after  the  Pheidian  goddess  had  been  erected  in 
the  Parthenon,  and  at  Phigaleia  existed  (and  was  renewed 
in  bronze  by  Onatas  of  Aegina)  a  monstrous  horse-headed 
Demeter.  Doubtless  of  the  nature  of  the  ancient  wooden  or 
clay  idol  were  the  '  Aeacidae  ' — the  images  of  the  old  Aeginetan 
heroes  Aeacus,  Telamon,  and  Peleus  of  which  Herodotus  tells 
us.  The  Aeginetans,  he  says,  when  appealed  to  by  the  Thebans 
for  help,  "  sent  them  the  Aeacidae,"  and  the  Thebans,  "  relying 
on  the  assistance  of  the  Aeacidae,"  ventured  on  war,  but  were 
beaten ;  whereupon  they  returned  the  Aeacidae  and  "  besought 
the  Aeginetans  to  send  them  men  instead."  Moreover,  in 
spite  of  this  experience,  just  before  the  battle  of  Salamis, 

*  Ivydia,  Phrygia,  and  I^ycia  all  seem  to  have  reached  an  advanced  stage 
in  plastic  art  before  Greece,  and  doubtless,  as  well  as  Egypt,  Crete,  and  the 
East,  contributed  many  important  elements  for  the  development  of  Greek 
sculpture.  The  great  rock-relief  of  '  Niobe  '  (probably  the  Earth-Mother 
Cybele)  on  Mount  Sipylus  in  Lydia  is  very  ancient,  and  so  are  recently  dis- 
covered tombs  in  Phrygia  with  lions  like  those  of  Mycenae.  Sculptured 
monuments  of  high  antiquity,  probably  of  Hittite  provenance,  have  lately 
been  discovered  at  Pteria,  the  ancient  capital  of  Cappadocia. 

221 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

says  Herodotus,  "  sl  ship  was  sent  by  the  Athenians  toAegina 
to  fetch  Aeacus  and  the  other  Aeacidae/' 

According  to  tradition,  the  first  sculptors  and  workers  in 
metals  were  superhuman  beings,  such  as  Hephaestus  and  the 
fabled  tribes  of  Phrygian  Dactyli  and  Cretan  and  Rhodian 
Telchines  and  I^emnian  Cabiri  and  the  Cyclopes.  Then  we 
hear  of  Daedalus.  The  name  may  be  an  epithet  ('  the  artificer  '), 
but  there  is  no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  it  was  given  to  some 
great  worker  in  metals  and  sculptor  and  inventor  (possibly 
even  of  wings!),  whom  legend  and  Homer  ^  connect  with  Minos, 
and  thus  also  with  Theseus  and  Athens,  intimating  doubt- 
less the  artistic  connexion  between  Crete  and  Greece  in  the 
Minoan  age. 

Daedalus  is  said  to  have  made  statues  that  could  see  and 
walk,  and  even  run  away  if  they  were  not  chained  to  their 
pedestals  !  This  we  may  accept  as  an  imaginative  way  of 
saying  that  he  first  gave  usable-looking  legs  to  statues  and 
opened  their  eyes  and  freed  their  arms.^  But  it  will  be  seen 
that  he  and  his  followers,  the  Daedalidae,  did  not  succeed 
at  once  in  banishing  the  type  of  the  old  image  with  cone-shaped 
or  columnar  nether  extremities  and  arms  glued  to  its  side, 
or  with  its  figure  swathed  in  massive  drapery  and  forming  a 
solid  piece  with  the  marble  on  which  it  is  seated — as  if  doomed 
to  sit  there  for  all  eternity. 

After  about  600  the  sculptors  and  masterpieces  mentioned 
by  old  writers  become  very  numerous,  but  of  many  nothing 
survives  but  the  name.  For  our  object  it  will  be  enough  to 
limit  ourselves  to  what  can  be  illustrated  by  extant  monuments. 
Of  these  relics  there  are  several  well-defined  types,  in  which  we 
trace  the  evolution  from  the  primitive  idol  to  a  statue  of  high 
artistic  value. 

(i)  The  first  of  these  types  is  a  figure  whose  lower  half, 
though  no  longer  a  mere  column  or  block,  is  columnar,  with  the 

*  Homer  frequently  uses  cognate  words  (daidaXeos,  SaidaXXeiv,  &c.)  in 
connexion  with  artistic  decoration,  but  only  mentions  Daedalus  as  the  maker 
of  a  dancing-ground  for  Ariadne.  With  '  Daedalus  '  cf.  the  half-mythical 
sculptor  '  Smilis  '  ((t/xiXt;  =  sculptor's  chisel). 

'  Something  analogous  can  be  said  of  Giotto. 

222 


58,  Statue  from  the  Branchidae  Tempi^e 


59.  The  '  Harpy  Tomb 


222 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

legs  undefined  and  entirely  hidden  by  a  stiff,  shapeless  skirt, 
below  which  the  feet  protrude  side  by  side.  The  arms  are 
attached  to  the  sides,  the  drapery  has  no  real  folds  or  texture, 
but  is  a  solid  mass  marked  with  conventional  lines.  The  head- 
dress is  of  an  Egyptian  or  Oriental  character,  generally  with 
broad  flat  masses  of  hair  hanging  down  in  front  of  each  shoulder. 
This  type  is  well  illustrated  by  the  '  Naxian  Artemis  '  (Fig.  50) 
discovered  in  Delos,  where  Nicandra  of  Naxos  dedicated  the 
image  to  the  goddess,  and  by  a  similar,  but  headless,  statue 
found  near  the  site  of  the  great  Hera  temple  in  Samos. 

(ii)  Secondly,  there  are  heavily  draped  seated  figures 
which,  in  early  examples,  seem,  as  has  been  said,  to  form  one 
solid  piece  with  the  block  or  throne  on  which  they  sit.  Of 
this  type  the  Branchidae  statues  (which  are  in  the  British 
Museum)  offer  fine  examples.  The  specimen  given  in  Fig.  58 
is  inscribed  with  the  name  '  Chares  of  Techiussa,'  probably 
some  great  Milesian,  possibly  a  tyrant  of  Miletus  long  before 
its  destruction  by  Darius  in  494.  (See  Note  A  at  the  end  of 
this  book  for  the  Branchidae  temple.) 

The  Cretan  statue  given  in  Fig.  6  was  perhaps  of  the  same 
character.  The  lower  half  is  wanting,  but  not  only  the  flat 
masses  of  pendent  (probably  false)  hair  but  also  the  general 
pose  remind  one  forcibly  of  seated  Egyptian  statues.  It  is  the 
only  specimen  extant  of  Cretan  sculpture  of  this  period,  and 
shows  perhaps  the  style  of  the  followers  of  Daedalus,  such  as 
Dipoenus  and  Scyllis,  who  are  said  to  have  introduced  statuary 
(c.  580)  from  Crete  into  the  Peloponnese.  This  statue  is 
perhaps  considerably  older  than  any  of  those  from  the  temple 
of  the  Branchidae. 

(iii)  Thirdly,  we  have  winged  figures,  possibly  an  imitation  ' 
from  Oriental  art.  In  classical  Greek  art  wings  are  rare,  as 
being  unnatural.  In  Oriental  art  we  often  have  four  or  six 
wings,  and  it  seems  just  possible  that  the  oldest  Greek  Victory 
(Nike)  extant  may  have  had  six.     It  is  a  very  uncouth  thing, 

1  For  wings  in  Greek  sculpture  I  may  perhaps  refer  to  an  appendix  in  my 
edition  of  Virgil's  A  eneid,  i.  (Blackie  &  Son) .  In  later  sculpture  Victory,  Cupid, 
and  Death  are  winged.     See  Fig.  119  and  p.  419. 

223 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
but  is  highly  interesting  as  one  of  the  first  Greek  statues  with 
unmistakable  legs — legs,  too,  that  are  bent.  Perhaps  the 
goddess  was  represented  flying.  From  small  bronzes  that 
repeat  the  type  it  seems  probable  that  the  figure  floated, 
suspended  by  the  drapery.  Its  wings  were  probably  coloured. 
It  has  a  rather  sour  archaic  smile  and  an  elaborate  system  of 
forehead  curls  and  pendent  tresses.  It  is  also  interesting 
because  it  may  be  the  actual  statue  referred  to  by  Aristophanes, 
who  says  that  Achermus  of  Chios  was  the  first  to  make  a 
winged  Nike.  It  was  discovered  in  Delos,  whither  many 
statues  were  sent  as  offerings  from  other  Aegaean  islands, 
and  a  pedestal  was  discovered  near  it  on  which  were  the  names 
of  Micciades  and  Achermus,  the  Chian  sculptors,  whose  date 
is  about  570.  Winged  figures  occur  also  on  vases  and  in  other 
paintings  of  this  period.  They  are  sometimes  purely  decora- 
tive (as  perhaps  on  the  Clazomenae  sarcophagus.  Fig.  45), 
sometimes  they  represent  a  winged  Artemis,  sometimes 
Harpies,  Fates  (/cr/pe?),  genii,  or  evil  spirits.  The  finest 
example  of  this  (of  about  550)  is  the  famous  '  Harpy  tomb/ 
a  monument  evidently  of  Greek  (Ionic)  work,  but  discovered 
in  lyycia  and  now  in  the  British  Museum  (Fig.  59).  The 
winged  bird-like  figures  are  doubtless  death-goddesses  who  are 
carrying  away  the  souls  of  the  dead.  The  central  portion 
represents  probably  Hades,  the  king  of  the  lower  world,  or 
else  a  deceased  hero,  receiving  gifts — a  motive  found  on  many 
Greek  tombs,  the  earliest  examples  being  very  ancient  Spartan 
gravestones.  ^  These  sculptures  formed  a  part  of  the  frieze  of 
a  massive  square  monument,  some  30  feet  high.  The  relief 
was  elaborately  painted,  but  the  colours  have  quite  disap- 
peared. From  frescoes  on  the  internal  walls  of  the  sepulchral 
chamber  it  seems  as  if  the  monument  was  used  in  early 
Christian  times  by  a  '  Stylite  '  (a  hermit  who  lived  on  the  top 
of  a  column). 

(iv)  Fourthly,  we  have  draped  figures,  mostly  female,  in 
which  the  arms  are,  in  later  examples,  no  longer  attached  to  the 
sides,  but  bent  and  projecting  forward  (made  of  a  separate 

^  Cf.  the  (later)  stele  of  Hegeso,  Fig.  106. 
224 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

piece  and  inserted)  or  crossed  over  the  body  ;  and^the  left  foot 
is  almost  always  advanced.  In  these  statues  the  drapery 
is  no  longer  massive  and  conventional,  but  treated  with  a 
skill  that  shows  a  very  great  advance.  Of  this  type  we  have 
striking  examples  in  the  fourteen  female  statues  excavated 
some  twenty-seven  years  ago  on  the  Acropolis  (p.  228).  Their 
date  is  probably  about  520  to  500. 

(v)  I^astly,  a  large  number  of  later  archaic  Greek  statues 
belong  to  what  is  called  the  *  nude  male'  type.^  They  are 
full  length,  and  fully  developed  in  limb,  and  show  great  ana- 
tomical knowledge  and  artistic  skill.  They  seem  not  seldom  to 
represent  the  god  Apollo  ^  (thence  are  commonly  known  as 
'  Apollos '),  but  are  evidently  sometimes  statues  of  athletes. 
Nude  '  Apollos '  of  this  type  have  been  found  in  Naxos, 
Thera,  Melos,  and  other  places.  A  very  striking  early  example, 
now  at  Munich,  was  found  at  Tenea  (between  Corinth  and 
Mycenae).  It  has  the  antique  Egyptian  'wig'  and  the 
archaic  grimace,  but  the  anatomy  is  finely  treated.  The 
finest  examples,  however,  come  from  Boeotia,  especially  from 
the  sanctuary  of  Apollo  on  Mount  Ptoon.  They  are  archaic 
in  style,  but  give  evidence  of  a  careful  study  of  the  human  body, 
and  are  the  first  distinct  intimations  of  that  mastery  of  the 
Greeks  in  statuary  which  has  never  been  approached.  In 
connexion  with  these  '  Apollos '  should  be  mentioned  the 
statues  of  athletes.  We  hear  of  wooden  statues  of  athletes 
erected  at  Olympia  about  540,  and  one  at  Phigaleia  perhaps 
as  early  as  560.  The  chief  makers  of  athlete  statues  were 
the  sculptors  of  Argos  and  Sicyon.  Ancient  writers  speak  of 
the  great  pre-eminence  of  these  schools,  and  doubtless  their 
statuary,  which  consisted  at  this  epoch  mainly  of  avSpLavTe<s 
('  men-portraits  ')  rather  than  ayoKixara  or  avaQrfiJ.aTa  (images 
[for  worship  or  dedication),  had  a  very  great  influence  on 
1  Attic  art.  Unfortunately — perhaps  because  they  worked 
1  mostly  in  bronze,  which  tempted  the  plunderer — nothing  of 


*  These  various  types  are  given  by  Professor  Vi.  Gardner  in  his  Handbook 
'f  Greek  Sculpture. 
2  A  colossal  nude  Poseidon  was  found  at  Sunion  in  1906. 

P  225 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

any  importance,  except  a  bronze  statuette  of  a  very  heavily 
built  athlete,  has  survived,  and  we  must  content  ourselves 
with  the  facts  that  the  Argive  Ageladas  ^  was  the  master  of 
two  of  the  most  illustrious  Athenian  sculptors,  Pheidias  and 
Myron,  as  well  as  of  Polycleitus  (who  himself  was  perhaps  an 
Argive),  and  that  Canachus  of  Sicyon  made  for  the  Branchidae 
temple  a  bronze  Apollo  which  was  carried  off  by  Darius  and 
restored  by  Seleucus. 

The  reliefs  on  Attic  tombstones  of  this  period  may  be  men- 
tioned in  connexion  with  portrait  sculpture.  Of  these  the 
most  interesting  is  that  of  Aristion  (Fig.  51),  probably  the  same 
Aristion  who  proposed  giving  a  bodyguard  to  Peisistratus 
{c.  560).  Although  archaic  in  style,  it  shows  the  very  delicate 
modelling  and  finish  for  which  the  early  Athenian  school  is  so 
remarkable. 

Thus,  very  faintly  and  discontinuously  amidst  all  the 
complexities  of  the  subject,  we  are  able  to  trace  the  evolution 
of  the  statue  of  the  classical  period  from  the  primitive  Koavov, 
In  doing  this  we  have  left  unnoticed  some  very  important 
facts  connected  with  the  use  of  statuary  for  architectural 
purposes.  I  shall,  therefore,  add  a  few  words  about,  firstly, 
the  sculptures  from  the  ancient  temple  at  Selinus ;  secondly, 
the  archaic  sculptures  excavated  on  the  Athenian  Acropolis  ; 
and,  thirdly,  the  Aeginetan  marbles. 

(i)  On  the  site  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  temples  at  Selinus, 
in  Sicily  (see  Note  A),  have  been  discovered  some  metopes 
(reliefs  on  a  Doric  frieze)  which  are  probably  the  oldest  extant 
perfect  specimens  of  Greek  architectural  sculpture.  Origi- 
nally they  were  coloured  and  had  a  dark  blue  background, 
but  only  faint  traces  of  colour  remain.  They  date  from  about 
600,  and  are  thus  some  half-century  older  than  the  Croesus 
column,  and  still  older  than  the  '  Harpy  tomb '  (Figs.  52,  59). 
Three  of  the  earliest  of  them,  casts  of  which  are  to  be  seen  in 
the  British  Museum,  represent  Perseus  cutting  off  the  Gorgon's 

^  See  Hdt.  v.  72  for  the  Olympian  victor  {c.  520)  whose  statue  by  Ageladas 
was  seen  at  Olympia  by  Pausanias.  As  Ageladas  also  made  a  statue  of  Zeus 
for  the  Messenians  at  Naupactus  in  459,  he  must  have  lived  and  worked  to 
a  great  age. 

226 


6o.    BUROPA   ON   THE    BUI^I, 

Metope  from  temple  at  SeJinus 


226 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

head,  Heracles  carrying  the  Cercopes  ^  suspended  Hke  rabbits 
to  the  two  ends  of  a  pole,  and  a  chariot  with  its  four  horses 
facing  the  spectator — a  clever  bit  of  perspective.  Some  of 
the  figures  are  exceedingly  uncouth,  misproportioned,  and  dis- 
torted, and  the  faces  repulsive  with  their  goggle  eyes  and  mean- 
ingless stare,  but  they  are  interesting  as  being  original  Greek 
work  (Selinus  having  been  founded  by  Megara),  and  showing 
no  such  evidence  of  Egyptian,  Cretan,  or  Oriental  influence 
as  is  noticeable  in  much  of  the  early  sculpture  that  we  have 
been  considering.  The  Selinus  metope  of  which  Fig.  60 
gives  a  representation  is  from  another  temple,  and  is  perhaps 
of  somewhat  later  date  (say  about  580).  It  is  of  very  much 
more  artistic  conception  and  execution,  and  has  considerable 
dignity  and  vigour  and  delicacy  in  detail,  although  it  is 
thoroughly  archaic  in  its  outlines  and  perspective.  The  subject 
— Europa  being  carried  by  the  bull  across  the  sea  (intimated 
by  a  dolphin)  from  Phoenicia  to  Crete — seems  to  point  to 
Cretan  workmanship  or  influence. 

(2)  After  the  departure  of  the  Persians,  who  had  twice 
(in  480  and  479)  sacked  Athens  and  had  burnt  or  broken  down 
as  far  as  they  could  every  temple  and  monument,  the  Athenians 
at  once  set  to  work  to  rebuild  on  a  more  magnificent  scale, 
and  in  order  to  obtain  a  larger  area  on  the  Acropolis  they 
erected  (on  the  advice  of  Cimon  or  Themistocles)  strong  walls 
on  the  upper  slopes  and  filled  in  the  spaces  between  these 
walls  and  the  top  of  the  hill,  using  for  this  purpose  the  relics 
of  the  old  temples — such  as  the  ancient  temple  of  Athene 
Polias — which  had  stood  on  the  summit.  During  the  years 
1882-87  these  spaces  were  thoroughly  searched,  and  many 
statues  and  inscriptions  and  architectural  fragments  were 
excavated,  which  have  thrown  a  great  deal  of  light  on  the 
question  of  Athenian  sculpture  in  the  sixth  century.  The 
most  important  of  these  finds  are  (a)  remains  of  the  pediments 
of  some  very  ancient  temples,  {b)  remains  of  the  pediment 
of  the  temple  of  Athene  Polias — rebuilt  by  Peisistratus — and 
(c)  a  series  of  fourteen  female  statues,  more  or  less  perfect. 

^  For  these  mischievous  little  gnomes  see  Rawlinson's  note  to  Hdt.  vii.  216. 

227 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

(a)  The  ancient  pediments  (to  be  seen  in  the  Acropolis 
Museum  at  Athens)  are  of  yellow  limestone  (poros).  One 
represents  Heracles  killing  the  Hydra  ;  in  another  he  is  wrest- 
ling with  Triton,  the  '  old  man  of  the  sea,'  while  from  the  other 
corner  is  advancing — perhaps  against  Zeus,  who  was  his  great 
adversary — the  horrid  monster  Typhon,  with  three  human 
heads  and  busts  (reminding  one  of  Dante's  Geryon,  whose 
face  was  that  of  a  just  man),  and  a  winged  body  with  inter- 
woven snakes  for  feet,  and  a  long  dragon  tail.  All  these 
monsters  were  originally  painted  in  bright  reds  and  blues 
and  greens,  like  terra-cottas,  and  set  against  a  coloured  back- 
ground. They  doubtless  date  from  a  time  earlier  than  that  of 
Peisistratus — probably  from  about  the  same  period  as  that  of 
the  Selinus  sculptures.  So  shocking  to  the  modern  Hellenist 
does  their  barbarous  monstrosity  appear — especially  when 
imagined  in  their  pristine  glare  of  colour — that  some  suppose 
them  to  be  products  of  the  Dark  Age,  and  to  have  been  buried 
out  of  sight  long  before  the  advent  of  the  Persians,  as  offensive 
to  public  taste.  Perhaps  one  was  the  pediment  of  the  ancient 
shrine  of  Athene  Polias  before  it  was  rebuilt  by  Peisistratus. 

(b)  The  pediment  of  the  old  temple  of  Athene  was  in  Parian 
marble.  Its  fragments  have  been  successfully  reconstructed 
into  a  '  gigantomachia  ' — a  battle  between  Athene  and  giants. 
Three  she  has  overthrown,  and  is  striking  at  one  with  her 
spear  while  she  holds  extended  the  aegis — originally  gorgeously 
decorated  with  red  and  blue  and  green  scales.  The  date  of 
this  marble  pediment  may  be  about  540.  It  was  probably 
erected  by  Peisistratus  when  he  turned  the  old  shrine  of  Athene 
into  a  Doric  temple  (see  Note  A) . 

(c)  Fourteen  female  draped  statues  in  Parian  marble 
(eight  of  them  with  heads)  were  excavated,  mostly  from  the 
filled-up  space  between  the  Erechtheion  and  the  north-western 
wall  of  the  Acropolis.  What  they  represent,  whether  priestesses 
or  donors  or  dedicated  portraits,  is  unknown.  Perhaps  they 
stood  in  or  near  the  old  temple  of  Athene.  They  are  all  in 
slightly  different  attitudes,  but  all  are  erect,  with  left  foot 
advanced  and  forearm  projecting  horizontally,  as  if  they  held 
228 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

some  offering  in  the  hand  (Fig.  37).  The  dress — evidently 
that  which  prevailed  at  Athens  in  the  age  of  Peisistratus — 
consists  of  a  long  crimpled  Ionic  chiton,  fastened  above  the 
upper  arm  with  small  brooches  (jepovai,  fibulae)  or  buttons, 
and  a  peplos,  doubled  and  fastened  over  the  right  shoulder 
by  fibulae.  In  some  cases  the  peplos  is  wanting  ;  in  others  it 
is  fastened,  like  a  Doric  chiton,  over  both  shoulders.  The 
drapery,  of  which  parts  were  richly  decorated  and  coloured, 
is  of  exquisitely  delicate  and  elaborate  workmanship,  though 
in  this,  as  in  the  type  of  face  and  otherwise,  there  is  a  great 
difference  between  the  earlier  and  the  later  of  these  statues. 
Some  have  the  goggle  eyes  and  meaningless  stare  or  grimace 
of  archaic  sculpture  ;  in  others  the  face  shows  considerable 
character  and  is  very  finely  modelled,  giving  evidence  of  a 
great  advance  in  the  direction  of  that  feminine  grace  and 
delicacy  which  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  early  Attic 
sculpture,  and  to  which,  when  wedded  to  the  manly  vigour  of 
the  athletic  Argive  school,  we  owe  the  development  of  the 
highest  types  of  Greek  plastic  art — those  which  we  associate 
with  the  names  of  Pheidias,  Myron,  and  Praxiteles. 

Before  the  excavations  on  the  Acropolis  we  possessed  scarcely 
any  relics  of  Athenian  sculpture  during  the  period  preceding 
the  Persian  wars.  Nor  was  this  surprising,  for  the  Persians 
were  not  only  intensely  embittered  against  Athens  and  therefore 
wreaked  their  vengeance  by  wholesale  destruction,  but  they 
were  also  fire- worshippers  and  therefore  iconoclasts.  In 
Asia  Minor  the  Bphesian  temple  was  the  only  one  spared  by 
Xerxes,  and  in  Attica  every  shrine  and  every  image  was 
destroyed  or  mutilated.  This  explains  the  total  disappearance 
:  of  many  buildings  and  works  of  art  mentioned  by  ancient 
;  writers.  And  much  that  was  made  of  valuable  material 
and  was  transportable  was  doubtless  carried  off  to  the  Bast. 
This  probably  accounts  for  the  disappearance  of  the  bronze 
four-horse  chariot  which  is  said  to  have  been  erected  on  the 
left  hand  of  the  steps  leading  up  to  the  Acropolis,  as  a  trophy  ^ 
of  the  victorious  Chalcidian  campaign  of  506.     It  certainly 

^  Pericles  probably  set  another  in  its  place. 

229 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
does  account  for  the  temporary  disappearance  of  another 
work  of  art — the  bronze  statues  of  the  tyrannicides  Harmodius 
and  Aristogeiton,  made  by  the  sculptor  Antenor,  whose  name 
occurs  on  what  is  beHeved  to  be  the  basis  of  the  largest  and 
best  preserved  of  the  '  Tanten  '  ('  Aunts  ') — to  use  a  name 
that  has  been  given  to  the  draped  female  statues  lately  de- 
scribed. These  bronze  tyrannicides  were  carried  off  by  Xerxes, 
but  restored  to  Athens  by  Alexander  the  Great,  or  one  of  his 
successors,  and  were  seen  by  Pausanias  standing  in  the 
Athenian  Agora  side  by  side  with  the  marble  statues  (possibly 
replicas  from  memory)  which  had  been  erected  at  once  (c.  477) 
to  retrieve  the  loss.  Now  for  the  most  part  of  the  six 
centuries  between  the  age  of  Xerxes  and  that  of  Pausanias  these 
groups — one  in  bronze  and  the  other  in  marble — were  among 
the  most  famiHar  sights  in  Athens.  They  seem  to  have  been 
spared  even  by  the  rapacious  Sulla,  and  by  Caligula  and  Nero 
himself,  but  possibly  found  their  way  to  Constantinople 
with  the  bronzen  Athene  and  the  Olympian  Zeus  of  Pheidias. 
Anyhow,  they  disappeared.  But  not  many  years  ago  re- 
productions of  one  of  the  groups  on  a  vase  and  a  coin  and  a 
marble  chair  (now  at  Broom  Hall,  in  England)  led  to  the 
recognition  of  two  statues  in  the  Naples  Museum  (Fig.  61) 
as  copies — it  is  uncertain  whether  of  Antenor' s  bronzes  or  the 
marbles  of  Critius  and  Nesiotes.  Probably  Antenor's  statues 
(if  we  may  judge  from  the  '  Tante  '  attributed  to  him)  were 
much  more  archaic  in  style  than  these  dramatically  animated 
figures.  It  should  be  remarked  that  the  figure  with  the 
chlamys  on  the  left  arm  is  that  of  Aristogeiton,  the  elder  of 
the  two  tyrannicides,  and  that  the  original  statue  had  a  bearded 
head,  for  which  in  modern  times  a  youthful  beardless  head  of 
fourth-century  work  has  been  substituted. 

The  last  Athenian  statue  that  I  shall  mention  here  belongs 
as  regards  date  rather  to  the  next  period,  for  Calamis,  the 
sculptor  who  probably  made  it,  was  born  only  some  ten  years 
before  Pheidias  and  survived  him  (having,  it  is  said,  made  a 
statue  to  Apollo,  the  Stayer  of  Evil,  to  commemorate  the 
cessation  of  the  great  plague  of  430).  Calamis  is  classed  by 
230 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

ancient  writers  among  the  greatest  Greek  sculptors,  and  the 
Hst  of  his  works  is  long.  He  made  many  famous  statues  of 
gods,  and  was  also  celebrated  for  his  horses.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  an  Athenian,  and  his  style  was  probably  that  of  the 
earlier  Attic  school,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  distinguished 
for  its  grace  and  delicacy  rather  than  for  athletic  muscularity 
and  vigour.  Of  his  works  we  possessed  until  lately  not  one 
single  specimen,  and  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  we  now 
possess  one,  but  it  seems  likely — especially  as  he  is  known  to 
have  accepted  various  commissions  from  Hiero  of  Syracuse 
and  to  have  made  him  several  bronze  horses.  The  statue  in 
question  (Fig.  74)  is  an  exceedingly  fine  bronze  which  was 
found  at  Delphi  about  fifteen  years  ago.  It  represents  a 
youthful  charioteer,  who  stood  originally  on  a  chariot  at  rest,  to 
judge  from  fragments  of  the  horses  that  have  been  found.  The 
tranquil,  self-possessed  dignit^T-  of  the  figure,  the  careful  and 
graceful  treatment  of  the  long  charioteer  robe,  and  the  ex- 
ceedingly delicate  modelling  of  the  arms,  hands,  and  feet  offer 
a  striking  contrast  to  the  bold,  Michelangelesque  work  of  the 
Peloponnesian  athletic  schools.  Upon  the  basis  a  fragmen- 
tary inscription  contains  the  word  polyzalos  ('  much-loved  '), 
which  may  be  a  name ;  and  possibly  the  group  was  dedicated 
by  Polyzalus,  brother  to  Hiero.  This  high-bred  youth  is 
therefore  possibly  Polyzalus  himself  or  some  younger  member 
of  the  princely  Syracusan  family.  It  is  known  that  Hiero 
won  chariot-races  at  Olympia. 

(3)  The  so-called  Aeginetan  marbles,  remains  of  the  two 
pediments  of  the  temple  of  Athene  (or,  if  we  may  infer  so  from 
an  inscription  found  on  the  site,  the  temple  of  a  local  goddess 
named  Aphaia),  were  discovered  in  1811.  Casts  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  British  Museum,  but  the  originals  are  in  the  Glyptothek 
at  Munich,  restored  and  reconstructed  by  the  Danish  sculptor 
Thorwaldsen  (Fig.  63).  A  more  successful  reconstruction  (the 
models  of  which  are  also  in  the  Munich  Museum)  has  been  made 
by  Professor  Furtwangler,  who  in  190 1  excavated  further  frag- 
ments. He  divides  the  combatants  into  groups,  and  makes 
the  archers  shoot  towards  the  corners  instead  of  towards  the 

231 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

centre,  where  Athene  stands,  and  fills  up  the  two  cornets 
with  two  prostrate  bodies.  The  scene  of  the  west  pediment  is 
evidently  some  episode  in  the  Trojan  War  in  which  Aeginetan 
heroes  (Aeacidae,  such  as  Ajax  and  Achilles  ?)  took  part,  and 
the  subject  of  the  east  pediment  seems  to  be  the  earlier  expe- 
dition against  I^aomedon  of  Troy  made  by  Heracles  and 
Telamon,  king  of  Aegina.  Both  the  figures  of  Athene  are  stiff 
and  archaic.  Possibly  they  are  old  statues  belonging  to  the 
temple  before  the  erection  of  the  other  figures — ^which  date 
evidently  from  the  years  following  the  battle  of  Marathon. 
Some  of  the  figures  had  bronze  armour  originally.  At  this 
epoch  paint  or  gilt  was  used  only  for  dress,  ornaments,  eyes,  Hps, 
and  hair.  The  nude  was  mostly  represented  by  plain  or  tinted 
marble.  Its  surface  was  very  often  oiled  and  polished  and 
slightly  coloured,  both  in  the  case  of  Parian  and  also  in  that  of 
the  somewhat  yellower  Pentelic  (Attic)  marble,  which  came 
into  use  during  the  fifth  century.  The  glittering  white  of 
Carrara  marble,  unrelieved  by  any  colour,  as  we  see  it  in 
modern  sculpture  galleries,  would  have  seemed  repellently 
cold  and  inartistic  to  the  Greek.  The  dismay  that  we  gene- 
rally feel  at  colour  in  statuary  and  architecture  may  be  an 
evidence  of  very  refined  sensibility,  but  it  is  essentially  un- 
Greek. 

The  sculptor  of  these  pediments  is  not  known  for  certain, 
but  probably  it  was  Onatas,  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Aeginetan 
school,  which  was  evidently  closely  related  to  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  schools  of  athletic  sculpture.  Before  Onatas,  another 
famous  Aeginetan  sculptor,  Smilis,  had  made  the  Samian 
Hera ;  and  ancient  writers  give  us  to  understand  that  Aegina 
in  early  times  was  famed  for  its  sculptors,  but  of  this  we  possess 
almost  no  evidence  except  these  Aeginetan  marbles  ;  and  the 
Aeginetan  school,  even  if  famous,  was  short-lived,  for  the 
existence  of  Aegina  as  an  independent  state  was  blotted  out 
by  Athens  in  455.  Onatas  is  said  to  have  made  statues  for 
many  cities  both  in  Greece  and  Western  Hellas,  and,  like 
Calami s,  to  have  received  commissions  from  Hiero  for  bronze 
horses  and  charioteers.  He  also  made  warrior  groups  for 
232 


62.  Tempi^e  of  Aphaia,  Aegina 


63.  Aegina  Pediment 


232 


THE    AGE    OF    PEISISTRATUS 

dedication  at  Olympia  and  Delphi.  It  is  therefore  very 
probable  that  the  pediments  of  the  Aegina  temple  were  his 
work.  They  show  remarkable  anatomical  knowledge.  The 
modelling  of  the  limbs  is  exact  and  firm.  But  the  faces  are 
those  of  mere  fighters  or  athletes,  entirely  devoid  of  higher 
human  interest,  and,  except  perhaps  technically,  these 
specimens  of  Aeginetan  art  stand  lower  than  many  older 
sculptures,  and  very  much  lower  than  the  best  Attic  art  of 
the  next  period. 


233 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   PERSIAN    INVASIONS 
(500-478) 

SECTIONS :  THE  GREEKS  AND  CARTHAGINIANS  IN  SICILY  : 

PINDAR 

IN  the  last  chapter  the  thread  of  the  narrative  was  dropped 
at  the  arrival  of  Darius  at  Sardis  after  his  Thracian  and 
Scythian  expedition  of  512.  He  had  left  Megabazus  with 
an  army  of  80,000  men  in  Thrace,  the  greater  part  of  which, 
as  well  as  Paeonia,  to  the  west  of  the  Strymon,  was  brought 
under  Persian  dominion  and  remained  tributary  to  the  Great 
King  for  some  fifteen  years. 

When  Darius  left  Sardis  for  Susa  he  appointed  his  brother 
Artaphernes  satrap  of  the  western  province  of  the  Persian 
Empire.  The  Greek  cities  on  the  mainland  were  governed  by 
Greek  tyrants  who  were  responsible  to  this  Persian  satrap  at 
Sardis.  For  some  years  things  went  on  quietly.  Then  came 
the  explosion  known  as  the  Ionian  revolt,  and  this  was  followed 
by  the  Persian  invasions  of  Greece  :  first  (after  an  unsuccess- 
ful attempt  by  Mardonius)  the  invasion  by  the  fleet  and 
army  of  Darius  under  the  command  of  Datis  and  Arta- 
phernes, who  were  beaten  at  Marathon ;  then  the  far 
more  serious  invasion  by  Xerxes,  whom  the  Greeks  defeated 
at  Salamis. 

The  story  of  the  Ionic  revolt  and  the  Persian  invasions  is 
told  by  Herodotus  in  the  last  four  books  of  his  history.  With 
an  art  that  veils  itself  in  seeming  artlessness  he  leads  us  leisurely 
onward  with  his  simple,  unaffected  tale,  lingering  ever  and 
again  over  what  some  may  deem  unessential  details,  and  making 
long  and  delightful  digressions,  but  leaving  nevertheless  in 
the  mind  a  far  more  distinct  picture  than  that  which  we  gain 

234 


THE    PERSIAN    INVAftJONS 

from  many  more  scrupulously  critical  and  correct  accounts. 
Those  who  have  the  leisure  for  such  readinf^nd  are  not  forced 
by  a  scientific  conscience  or  by  the  exigencies  of  examination 
to  use  the  more  sceptical  and  accurate  compilations  of  modern 
historians,  will  find  in  Herodotus,  or  in  the  admirable,  though 
rather  free,  version  of  his  history  by  Canon  Rawlijfton,  the 
best  and  most  attractive  of  all  descriptions  of  this  period. 
The  same  kind  of  sensation  as  one  has  when  gliding  gently  and 
steadily  over  a  smooth  blue  sea,  with  now  and  then  a  slight 
pressure  of  the  hand  on  the  tiller,  will  be  experienced  as  the 
story  is  followed,  with  now  and  then  a  glance  at  some  foot-note 
which  respectfully  corrects  or  supplements  the  statements  of 
the  Father  of  History. 

This  episode  of  the  world's  history  is  so  well  known  and  has 
been  related  so  often  that  I  shall  not  attempt  to  give  any  very 
detailed  account  of  it.  Moreover,  whatever  value  the  story, 
as  told  by  Herodotus,  has  for  the  true  student — and  it  has 
much — consists  in  its  panoramic  effects  and  its  revelation  of 
human  and  national  character,  and  this  value  is  not  increased 
by  a  too  anxious  reconstruction  of  battles  and  other  military 
operations,  or  a  too  anxious  scepticism  as  regards  statistics.  I 
shall  therefore  briefly  state  the  main  facts,  and  then  add  a 
little  colour  to  the  bare  outline  by  quoting  descriptive  passages 
from  Herodotus  or  other  sources.^ 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Histiaeus,  tyrant  of  Miletus, 
who  had  accompanied  Darius  on  the  Scythian  expedition, 
had  persuaded  his  fellow- Greeks  not  to  break  down  the  bridge 
over  the  Danube.  The  king  bade  him  name  his  reward. 
He  asked  for  the  gift  of  the  town  Myrcinus,  on  the  river 
Strymon,  near  the  site  of  the  future  Amphipolis,  and  at  once 
•  began  to  fortify  it  and  to  collect  troops — a  procedure  which  so 
aroused  the  suspicions  of  Megabazus,  the  commander  of  the 
Persian  army  in  Thrace,  that  he  sent  word  to  Darius.  The 
j  result  was  that  Darius,  who  was  still  at  Sardis,  informed 
Histiaeus  that  he  could  not  bear  his  absence  any  longer  and 


^  Quotations  in  this  chapter  are  all  from  Herodotus,  unless  otherwise  stated. 
^y  versions  are  founded  to  some  extent  on  Canon  Rawlinson's  translation. 

235 


V 

I 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

ordered  him  to  come  to  Sardis,  and  thence  took  him  to  Susa, 
where  for  twelve  years  he  led  the  envied  life  of  a  "  benefacl-or 
of  the  king  " — gnawing  his  heart  with  anger  and  longing  for 
an  opportunity  for  revenge. 

Now  the  government  of  Miletus  had  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Aristagoras,  the  son-in-law  of  Histiaeus.  He  quarrelled  with 
a  Persian  commander,  Megabates,  with  whom  he  had  made 
an  unsuccessful  raid  on  Naxos,  and  (perhaps  encouraged  by  a 
message  from  Histiaeus  tattooed  on  the  head  of  a  slave) 
resolved  to  incite  a  general  revolt  of  the  Hellenic  cities  against 
Persia.  Democracies  were  set  up  in  place  of  tyrannies,  and 
Aristagoras  himself,  having  resigned  his  government,  visited 
Sparta  and  vainly  tried  to  win  the  aid  of  King  Cleomenes. 
He  then  went  to  Athens,  and  "  it  being  easier,'*  says 
Herodotus,  "  to  deceive  a  multitude  than  one  man,  he  suc- 
ceeded with  the  Athenians,  who  were  30,000,  though  he  had 
failed  with  Cleomenes.  They  voted  that  twenty  ships  should 
be  sent  to  the  aid  of  the  lonians  .  .  .  and  these  ships  were  the 
beginning  of  trouble  between  the  Greeks  and  the  barbarians." 
The  Eretrians  joined  with  five  triremes.  With  their  fleet  thus 
powerfully  reinforced,  the  lonians,  had  they  followed  the 
advice  of  the  historian  Hecataeus  to  fortify  some  island, 
might  have  held  their  own  in  the  Aegaean  and  on  the 
coast,  but,  having  landed  near  Bphesus,  they  marched  up  to 
Sardis  "  with  a  great  host,"  and  took  it.  The  city  contained 
many  houses  built  of  reed,  and,  a  fire  having  broken  out,  it 
was  burnt  (497).  The  Greeks  hastily  retreated,  but  were 
overtaken  and  cut  to  pieces  by  Artaphernes  and  the  Persians,_^ 
and  though  the  revolt  spread  to  Cyprus  and  Caria  and  the 
Propontis,  it  was  suppressed.  Aristagoras  fled  to  Myrcinus 
and  met  his  death  in  Thrace,  but  Miletus  still  headed  the 
revolt  against  Persia.  Histiaeus,  having  at  length  persuaded  ^ 
Darius  to  let  him  return  to  the  West  in  order  to  pacify 
his  fellow-Greeks,  aroused  the  suspicions  of  Artaphernes  at 
Sardis  and  fled.  He  tried  in  vain  to  re-enter  Miletus.  Then 
he  took  to  piracy  in  the  Hellespont,  but  at  last  was  caught  and 
put  to  death  by  the  Persian  satrap,  an  act  reprimanded  by 
236 


64.  TiiK  '  Darius  Vase; 


236 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

Darius,  who,  when  the  head  of  Histiaeus  was  brought  to  him, 
bade  it  be  buried  honourably  "  as  the  head  of  a  man  who  had 
been  a  great  benefactor  to  the  king  and  his  people." 

The  Persians  then  with  a  vast  land  force,  and  with  600  ships 
drawn  from  Phoenicia,  Cyprus,  and  Egypt,  prepared  to  lay 
siege  to  Miletus.  The  Greek  fleet  of  353  triremes  assembled 
at  the  island  of  lyade — now  a  hillock  in  the  midst  of  the  wide 
swampy  plain  which  was  once  the  splendid  I^atmic  bay  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Maeander.  Treason  and  cowardice  gave  the 
victory  to  the  barbarians.  The  Samians  deserted  in  the  midst 
of  the  battle  and  sailed  home.^  Miletus  was  captured  (493). 
*'  Most  of  the  men  were  killed.  The  women  and  children  were 
made  slaves.  Those  whose  lives  were  spared  were  carried  to 
Susa,  but  received  no  ill-treatment  from  Darius,  who  established 
them  at  Ampe,  a  city  on  the  Persian  Gulf  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Tigris.  The  sanctuary  [of  the  Branchidae]  at  Didyma 
was  plundered  and  burnt."    (See  p.  223  and  Fig.  58.) 

On  his  expulsion  from  Athens  in  510  Hippias,  the  son  of 

Peisistratus,  had  lived  first  at  Sigeum.     The  Spartans  had 

tried  to  restore  him,  but  had  been  foiled  by  their  allies.     He 

then  did  his  utmost  to  gain  help  from  Persia,  and  Artaphernes 

had    threatened  Athenian  envoys    at  Sardis  that    "  if  they 

wished  to  remain  safe,  they  must  receive  Hippias  back  "  ;  but 

nothing  had  come  of  it.    Though  now  an  old  man  of  seventy, 

Hippias  himself,  who  was  now  at  Susa,  had  doubtless  urged  his 

claims  with  Darius  during  these  last  dozen  years  or  so,  and  had 

rejoiced  at  the  anger  of  the  Great  King  against  the  Athenians 

I  and  at  the  subjugation  of  the  lonians.     It  was,  however,  not 

I  the  laments  of   the  old  Hippias  but  the  burning  of  Sardis 

i  that   determined   Darius   to   wipe   out   Athens   and   Kretria 

I  from  existence  and  transport  their  inhabitants  to  the  far  East. 

j  In  the  spring  of  492  he  ordered  Mardonius,  "  a  youth  lately 

I  married  to  Artazostra,  the  king's  daughter,"  to  take  a  great 

I  fleet  from  Cilicia  to  the  Hellespont,  whither  a  vast  army  was 

I  sent  to  meet  him.     (On  his  voyage  along  the  Ionian  coast  he 

I  *  Shortly  afterwards  a  large  number  of  the  Samians  "  of  the  richer  sort  " 
1  went  off  to  Western  Hellas  and  occupied  Zancle  (Messina). 

237 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
''  put  down  all  the  tyrants  and  established  democracies  ' — a 
fact  that  Herodotus  regards  as  "  a  marvel.")  He  crosse-;  the 
Hellespont  successfully  with  all  his  land  army,  but  his  flee'  was 
wrecked  while  attempting  to  round  the  dangerous  promontory 
of  Athos.  *'  It  is  said  that  the  number  of  ships  destroyed 
was  nearly  300,  and  the  men  who  perished  were  more  than 
20,000.  The  sea  around  Athos  abounds  in  monsters,  and  some 
of  the  men  were  seized  and  devoured  by  these  animals." 
After  subjugating  a  Thracian  tribe,  from  whom  he  had 
suffered  great  losses,  Mardonius  withdrew  to  Asia,  "  having 
failed  disgracefully. ' ' 

When  Darius  had  first  heard  of  the  burning  of  Sardis,  "  laying 
aside  all  thought  of  the  lonians,  who  would,  he  was  sure,  pay 
dearly  for  their  revolt,  he  had  asked,  Who  are  these  Athenians  ?  " 
— as  Cyrus  once  had  asked.  Who  are  these  Spartans  ? — "  and 
when  he  was  informed,  he  called  for  his  bow  and  placed  an 
arrow  on  the  string  and  shot  into  the  sky,  exclaiming.  Grant 
me,  Zeus  " — he  probably  said  Ormuzd — "  to  revenge  myself  on 
these  Athenians  I  Then  he  bade  one  of  his  attendants  every 
day  when  his  dinner  was  served  thrice  to  repeat  these  words  : 
Master,  remember  the  Athenians  I  "  And  now  the  failure  of 
Mardonius  had  deepened  his  resentment  and  his  determination. 
He  transferred  the  command  of  the  armament  to  the  Mede 
Datis  and  to  his  own  nephew  Artaphernes,  who  had  probably 
succeeded  his  father  as  satrap  at  Sardis.  A  mighty  fleet  was 
collected  by  the  seaport  towns  tributary  to  Persia,  and  heralds 
were  sent  demanding  earth  and  water  from  the  islands  and 
also  from  the  cities  in  Greece,  a  large  number  of  whom,  says 
Herodotus,  including  Aegina,  sent  the  required  tokens  of 
submission.  But  the  heralds  "  were  thrown  at  Athens  into 
the  barathron  " — an  oubliette  for  criminals — "  and  at  Sparta  ^ 
into  a  well,  and  bidden  to  take  therefrom  earth  and  water."  Then 
Datis  and  Artaphernes,  "  with  orders  to  carry  the  Athenians 
and  Eretrians  away  captive  and  to  bring  them  into  the  presence 

'  Probably  the  flight  of  the  Spartan  king  Demaratus  to  the  court  of  Darius 
in  491  had  incensed  the  Spartans.  I^ater  two  Spartans  voluntarily  went  to 
Susa  to  atone  for  this  murder  of  the  heralds  with  their  lives,  but  were  freely 
pardoned  by  Xerxes  (Hdt.  vi.  134-136). 

238 


THE     PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

of  Darius/'  took  their  fleet  of  600  triremes  across  the  Aegaean. 
They  burnt  the  city  of  the  Naxians  and  took  hostages  from  other 
islands,  but  by  the  command  of  Darius  they  spared  the  temple 
and  treasure  of  Delos/  on  which  island  Datis  landed  and  made 
a  burnt-offering  of  300  talents  of  frankincense.  "  After  his 
departure,"  says  Herodotus,  "  Delos  (as  the  Delians  told  me) 
was  shaken  by  an  earthquake — the  first  and  last  that  has  been 
felt  there  to  this  day."  In  passing  we  may  remark  that 
Thucydides  (ii.  8)  says  exactly  the  same  of  an  earthquake 
that  occurred  at  the  beginning  of  the  Peloponnesian  War.  The 
great  fleet  then  reached  Euboea.  Eretria  had  begged  Athens 
for  help,  and  4000  Athenian  settlers  were  directed  to  act  as 
auxiliaries,  but  these,  finding  the  Kretrians  meditating  flight 
or  treason,  escaped  from  Buboea.  After  a  siege  of  six  days, 
two  traitors,  "  both  citizens  of  good  repute,"  betrayed  the  city 
to  the  Persians.  It  was  plundered  and  burnt,  and  most  of  the 
citizens  were  carried  away  to  Susa.  "  King  Darius,"  says 
Herodotus — and  it  is  another  example  of  Persian  magnanimity 
— "  before  they  were  made  his  captives,  cherished  fierce 
indignation  against  these  men  for  having  injured  him  unpro- 
voked, but  now  that  he  saw  them  brought  into  his  presence 
and  subjected  to  him  he  did  them  no  further  harm,  and  only 
settled  them  at  a  place  called  Ardericca,  210  furlongs  from 
Susa.  .  .  .  And  here  they  continued  till  my  time,  and  still 
spoke  their  old  language." 

From  Bretria,  by  the  advice  of  the  old  Hippias,  the  Persians 
crossed  over  to  Attica.  "  And  because  there  was  no  place  in 
all  Attica  so  convenient  for  their  horse  as  Marathon,  and  as  it 
lay,  moreover,  quite  close  to  Bretria,  therefore  Hippias  con- 

^  ducted  them  thither."     Of  the  three  Attic  plains  offering  a 
favourable  landing-place,  the  Thriasian,  the  Athenian,  and  the 

[  Marathonian,  the  last — about  twenty-two  miles  from  Athens — 

^  A  still  more  striking  example  of  the  regard  that  Darius  and  his  Persians 

• — but  not  Xerxes — showed  for   the  temples  of  Apollo  (whom  they  perhaps 

identified  with  the  Sun-god)  is  the  fact  that  Datis,  after  his  defeat  at  Marathon, 

'  having  found  a  gilt  image  of  Apollo  that  his  men  had  looted,  took  it  to  Delos 

\  in  his  own  ship  and  begged  the  Delians  to  restore  it  to  its  temple  in  Greece — 

which  was  not  done  for  twenty  years. 

239 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
was  for  the  Persian  armament  by  far  the  most  accessible  ; 
and  doubtless  Hippias  remembered  vividly  how,  fifty  years 
before,  he  had  accompanied  his  father,  Peisistratus,  in  his 
successful  expedition  from  Bretria,  and  how  they  had  landed 
at  Marathon  and  had  surprised  and  routed  the  Athenian 
army. 

"  When  intelligence  of  this  reached  the  Athenians,  they 
likewise  marched  their  troops  to  Marathon,  and  there  stood  on 
the  defensive,  having  at  their  head  ten  generals,  of  whom  one 
was  Miltiades."  They  seem  to  have  chosen  the  rather  shorter 
and  steeper  path  that  skirts  round  Pentelicus  to  the  north, 
for  we  find  them  "  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle  in  the  sacred 
precinct  of  Heracles,"  to  the  north-west  of  the  Persian  encamp- 
ment. "  Before  they  left  the  city,  the  generals  had  sent  off 
to  Sparta  a  herald,  who  was  by  profession  a  trained  runner.  .  ,-  . 
He  reached  Sparta  " — some  135  miles  distant — "  on  the  very 
next  day.  .  .  .  The  Spartans  wished  to  help  the  Athenians, 
but  were  unable  to  come  to  their  aid  at  once,  being  unwilling 
to  break  the  estabHshed  rule.  They  could  not  march  out  of 
Sparta  on  the  ninth,  when  the  moon  had  not  yet  reached  its 
full.  So  they  waited  for  the  full  of  the  moon."  These  state-^ 
ments,  so  composedly  made  by  Herodotus,  amaze  one.  Why, 
we  ask,  had  not  the  Athenians  secured  the  aid  of  the  Spartans 
and  other  allies  long  ago  ?  Surely  all  that  had  happened  in 
Buboea  was  known  to  them.  Surely  they  knew  that  their 
turn  would  come  next.  And  the  fact  that  Aegina,  and  perhaps^ 
Thebes,  and  other  Greek  cities  had  sent  earth  and  water  to 
the  barbarians  ought  surely  to  have  made  them  still  more 
anxious  to  organize  resistance — if  they  meant  to  offer  resistance. 
And  how  is  it  credible  that  a  highly  civilized  Greek  people, 
the  people  that  prided  itself  on  being  representative  Hellenes, 
the  foremost  of  Greek  states,  the  head  of  a  powerful  league  of 
Greek  cities,  should  have  let  a  superstition  which  nowadays 
scarcely  any  longer  incommodes  the  traveller  in  Central  Africa 
prevent  them  sending  help  when  the  very  existence  of  Greece 
was  at  stake  ?  It  would  truly  be  incredible  had  we  not  in 
Greek  history  other  similar  cases,  and  no  explanation  can  be 
240 


W       THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

Pfound  except,  as  Grote  says,  in  a  most  astounding  "  attribute 
of  Greek  character  " — or  perhaps  we  might  more  justly  call  it 
Spartan  character.  One  can  but  cite  such  instances  and  leave 
them  to  explain  themselves.  Other  cases,  as  we  shall  see, 
occurred  in  connexion  with  Thermopylae  and  with  Salamis.^ 

The  battle  has  been  described  and  '  reconstructed  '  times 
without  number.  I  shall  content  myself  with  noting  a  few 
points  of  interest.  The  Athenian  hoplites  numbered  perhaps 
9000  and  the  gallant  little  Plataean  contingent  1000.  The 
total  Greek  loss  was  192  !    The  Persians  had  about  200,000 

-  foot  and  10,000  cavalry  ;  but  all  this  armament  could  not  well 
have  taken  part  in  the  fight.  They  lost,  says  Herodotus,  6400 
men  and  seven  ships.  The  rest  of  the  great  fleet — some  600 
triremes  and  many  transports — at  once  sailed  south  and  rounded 
Sunion,  with  the  evident  intention  of  capturing  Athens,  possibly 
incited  to  do  so  by  a  signal,  the  flashing  of  a  shield  from  the 
top  of  Pentelicus,  a  treacherous  act  which  none  has  ever 
explained,  but  which  was  attributed  (Herodotus  thinks  wrongly) 
to  the  Alcmaeonidae.  The  walls  of  the  city  had  been  demolished 

?by  the  Peisistratidae,  and  it  could  have  offered  no  resistance 
had  not  the  Athenian  army,  leaving  Aristides  and  his  regiment 
to  guard  the  field,  hastened  back  (Herodotus  only  says  "  with  all 
possible  speed,"  which  has  sometimes  been  interpreted  as  ''on 
the  same  day"),  and  the  Persians,  seeing  them  and  probably 
learning  the  approach  of  the  2000  Spartans,  who  had  at  length 
started,  abandoned  their  project  and  sailed  away.  "  After 
the  full  of  the  moon,"  says  Herodotus,  "  2000  Spartans  came 
to  Athens.  So  eager  had  they  been  to  arrive  in  time  that  they 
took  only  three  days  to  reach  Attica.  They  came  too  late  for 
the  battle,  but  as  they  had  a  strong  desire  to  see  the  Medes, 
they  continued  their  march  to  Marathon,  and  there  viewed  the 
tSiain.  Then,  after  bestowing  great  praise  on  the  Athenians 
for  their  achievement,  they  returned." 

Before  passing  on  let  us  note  a  few  points  of  personal  interest. 

'  ^  See  Hdt.  vi.  io6,  vii.  206,  ix.  7  ;  Thuc.  iv.  5,  v.  54.  One  is  reminded  of 
'the  Jews  refusing  to  fight  on  the  Sabbath  during  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  by 
1  the  Romans. 

Q  241 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
After  the  Greek  wings  had  closed  in  and  routed  the  victorious 
Persians  in  the  centre  and  had  chased  them  to  the  sea,  "  they 
laid  hold  of  the  ships  and  called  for  fire ;  and  it  was  here 
that  Callimachus,  the  polemarch,  after  greatly  distinguishing 
himself,  was  slain  .  .  .  and  Cynaegeirus,  the  son  of  Euphorion, 
having  seized  on  a  ship  by  the  decoration  at  the  stern,  had  his 
hand  cut  off  by  the  blow  of  an  axe,  and  thus  perished."  This 
Cynaegeirus  was  the  brother  of  the  poet  Aeschylus,  who 
himself,  as  well  as  another  brother,  Ameinias,  was  present  at 
the  battle  ^  and  probably  took  part  in  the  celebrated  charge 
of  the  Athenian  hoplites.  That  Callimachus  was  the  *  pole- 
march  ' — that  is,  the  official  commander-in-chief  of  the  ten 
generals  (each  perhaps  in  command  of  a  phyle  of  looo  men) — 
is  allowed  by  Herodotus,  but  he  states  that  Miltiades  won  over 
Callimachus  to  give  his  casting  vote  for  risking  the  battle, 
and  that  the  other  nine  generals,  "  when  their  turn  came  to 
command,  gave  up  their  right  to  Miltiades,"  who  nevertheless 
*'  waited  until  his  own  day  of  command  came,"  and  then  won 
the  battle.  This  has  been  questioned,  for  it  is  asserted  that 
daily  command  by  rotation  came  into  practice  later  ;  but  there 
is  no  sufficient  reason  to  doubt  the  account  given  by  Herodotus, 
and  in  any  case  Miltiades  was  practically,  if  not  officially, 
>  the  victor  of  Marathon — as  the  Athenians,  too,  thought,  for 
besides  the  ten  pillars  on  the  field  of  battle  in  memory  of  the 
fallen  a  monument  was,  it  is  said,  erected  in  honour  of  him. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  he  had  succeeded  his  uncle  as 
tyrant  of  the  Chersonese.  He  had  incurred  the  resentment  of 
Darius  by  voting  for  the  destruction  of  the  bridge  over  the 
Danube  (p.  191)  and  by  conquering  and  handing  over  to  the 
Athenians  the  islands  of  lycmnos  and  Imbros,  and  on  the  failure 
of  the  Ionic  revolt  he  had  fled  to  Athens.  His  son,  Metiochus, 
had  been  captured  by  the  Persians.  ('*  Darius,  however, 
when  the  Phoenicians  brought  him  into  his  presence,  was  so 
far  from  doing  him  any  hurt  that  he  loaded  him  with  favours, 

^  He  doubtless  also  fought  at  Salamis — so  vividly  described  in  his  Persae — 
and  at  Plataea,  and  an  Ameinias,  possibly  this  brother  of  his,  greatly  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  Salamis. 
242 


65.  Pythagoras 


66.  Aeschyi^us 


67.    MII^TIADES 


68.  ThemistocIvES  242 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

giving  him  a  house  and  estates  and  also  a  Persian  wife/') 
His  popularity  at  Athens  was  partly  due  to  the  acquisition  of 
lycmnos  and  Imbros  and  partly  to  his  hostility  to  the  Peisis- 
tratidae,  who  had  assassinated  his  father  Cimon  (celebrated 
for  having  thrice  won  with  the  same  mares  the  four-horse 
chariot-race  at  Olympia)  ;  moreover,  his  experience  in  war 
and  his  knowledge  of  the  Persians  doubtless  led  to  his  election 
as  general. 

Besides  Aeschylus  and  Callimachus  and  Miltiades  two 
famous  men,  afterwards  great  rivals,  Aristides  and  Themistocles, 
took  part  in  the  battle — the  former  as  general,  the  latter  a 
young  man  of  perhaps  twenty-six. 

Some  thirty  years  later,  in  the  great  public  portico  near  the 
Athenian  Agora  known  as  the  Poikile  Stoa  (the  '  Painted 
Portico  '),  the  Michelangelo  of  antiquity,  Polygnotus,  depicted 
the  battle  of  Marathon.  He  seems  to  have  chosen  three 
scenes  :  the  first  was  the  charge  of  the  Athenians  and  Plataeans, 
the  second  was  the  slaughter  of  the  Persians  in  the  swamp, 
the  third  showed  the  attack  of  the  Greeks  on  the  ships.  The 
Persian  leaders,  Datis  and  Artaphernes,  and  the  Greek  generals 
Callimachus  and  Miltiades  and  others  were  portrayed — 
Cynaegeirus,  too,  seizing  the  stem  of  the  vessel. 

Something  should  perhaps  be  said  here  about  the  Spartan 
leaders — though  they  were  conspicuous  for  their  absence. 

We  have  several  times  already  heard  of  the  Spartan  king 
Cleomenes.  He  had  reigned  since  about  520,  and  had  helped 
to  eject  Hippias,  but  had  failed  in  a  second  expedition  to 
Athens.  He  had  resisted  the  appeal  of  the  Milesians  and  the 
bribes  of  their  envoy,  Aristagoras.^  As  was  often  the  case 
(an  inevitable  and  perhaps  intentional  result  of  the  curious 
dual  system),  the  two  Spartan  kings  had  quarrelled.  Cleomenes, 
who  was  wild  and  impulsive  (touched,  indeed,  with  insanity, 

^  See  Hdt.  v.  49  sq.  for  the  story  of  the  bronzen  map  and  the  dismissal  of 
I  Aristagoras  for  having  suggested  to  the  Spartans  a  three  months*  march  up 
I  to  Babylon  ;    and  how  the  little  Gorgo,  daughter  of  Cleomenes,  and  after- 
wards wife  of  her  half-uncle  Leonidas,  saved  her  father  from  accepting  the 
bribe. 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
if  we  are  to  believe  Herodotus),  succeeded  finally,  a  year  before 
Marathon,  in  persuading  the  Delphic  oracle  to  declare  his  rival, 
King  Demaratus,  to  be  illegitimate.  Demaratus  fled  to  the 
court  of  Darius,^  and  we  shall  find  him  later  as  the  trusted 
adviser  of  Xerxes.  A  year  after  Marathon  Cleomenes  was 
proved  to  have  tampered  with  the  Delphic  oracle  in  order  to 
dethrone  his  rival,  and  took  to  flight.  He  was  allowed  to  return, 
but  showed  signs  of  insanity  and  was  fettered  and  placed  under 
the  guard  of  a  Helot,  and  committed  suicide.  I^eonidas,  his 
half-brother,  succeeded,  and  when  he  died  at  Thermopylae" 
Cleombrotus  and  then  Pausanias  held  the  regency  for  his  son 
Pleistarchus.  Demaratus  was  succeeded  by  I^eotychidas,  who 
reigned  till  469. 

The  counsel  given  by  Solon  to  Croesus  to  "  mark  well  the 
end  "  has  a  striking  application  in  regard  to  many — indeed,  to 
most — ^of  the  famous  leaders  and  statesmen  of  Greek  history. 

The  end  of  Miltiades  is  especially  painful.  He  used  his 
popularity  to  persuade  the  Athenians  to  put  a  fleet  of  seventy" 
fully  manned  ships  at  his  disposal,  *'  without  saying  what 
country  he  was  going  to  attack,  but  only  that  it  was  a  very 
wealthy  land,  where  they  might  easily  get  as  much  gold  as 
they  could  carry  away."  In  order  to  avenge  some  private- 
wrong  he  attacked  the  island  of  Paros  ;  but  after  besieging  the 
town  in  vain,  he  was  persuaded  by  a  Parian  prisoner,  a  priestess, 
to  steal  some  sacred  object — for  this  was  apparently  his  purpose 
in  going  by  night  to  a  Parian  temple.  On  his  return  he  injured 
himself  when  jumping  from  the  wall  of  the  precinct,  and  he 
returned  invalided  to  Athens.  Here  he  was  impeached  for 
having  deceived  the  Athenians.  His  life  was  spared,  but  he  was 
fined  fifty  talents.  "  Soon  afterwards  his  leg  gangrened  and 
mortified  ;  and  so  Miltiades  died  ;  and  the  fine  was  paid  by  his 
son  Cimon." 

What  was  the  end  of  Hippias  is  uncertain.  Herodotus 
gives  a  graphic  picture  of  the  old  man  landing  at  Marathon, 
and  *'  marshalling  the  companies  of  the  barbarians  as  they 

^  Many  famous  Greeks  went  over  to  the  Persians.  I  need  only  mention 
the  two  '  saviours  of  Greece,'  Themistocles  and  the  victor  of  Plataea,  Pausanias. 

244 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

disembarked  "  ;  but  we  hear  no  more.  Had  he  been  killed  in 
the  battle  we  should  have  surely  heard  of  it.  Some  assert  that 
he  retired  to  I^emnos,  which  was  now  for  a  time  reoccupied 
by  the  Persians,  but  was  reannexed  by  Athens  after  Salamis. 
We  hear  of  Peisistratidae — perhaps  sons  of  Hippias — at  the 
court  of  Xerxes. 

The  occurrences  in  Greece  during  the  interval  between 
the  battle  of  Marathon  and  that  of  Salamis  proved  of  very 
great  moment  in  deciding  the  fate  of  the  Hellenic  race.  I^et 
us  first  consider  these,  and  then  turn  to  Persia  and  the  vast 
preparations  of  Darius  and  Xerxes  for  wreaking  vengeance  on 
Athens. 

The  perpetual  hostility  between  Athens  and  Aegina  has  been 
frequently  mentioned,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  the 
Athenians  had  denounced  Aegina  to  Sparta  for  having  sent 
earth  and  water  to  the  Persian  king.  Sparta,  the  head  of  a 
great  confederation  to  which  even  Athens  belonged,  had  lately^ 
by  means  of  a  rather  mean  ruse,^  defeated  its  great  rival 
Argos,  and  had  almost  exterminated  the  Argive  warriors — 
so  that  the  city  "  was  left  so  bare  of  men  that  the  slaves 
managed  the  state  and  administered  everything  until  the  sons 
of  those  who  were  slain  by  Cleomenes  grew  up.''  Sparta, 
therefore,  felt  justified  in  acting  in  a  high-handed  manner, 
and,  having  taken  hostages  from  the  Aeginetans,  handed  them 
over  to  the  Athenians.  After  Marathon  these  hostages  were 
demanded  back  by  the  Aeginetans,  but  the  demand  was 
refused  by  Athens,  and  continual  fighting  went  on  between 
the  two  states  from  about  487  until  483,  when,  in  prospect  of 
I  renewed  invasion  by  the  Persians,  the  Greek  states  assembled 
on  the  Corinthian  isthmus  and  decided  to  patch  up  all 
quarrels. 

Probably,  as  Herodotus  says,  "  the  breaking  out  of  this 
Aeginetan  war  was  the  saving  of  Greece ;  for  hereby  the 
i  Athenians  were  forced  to  become  a  maritime  power.'' 

Even  in  the  Dark  Age,  as  we  have  seen,  Athens  possessed 
a  considerable  navy  ;   but  as  a  maritime  power  she  was  then 

1  Hdt.  vi.  78. 

24s 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
out-rivalled  by  Corinth,  and  in  later  days  by  Corcyra  and 
Syracuse,  and  had  held  her  own  with  much  difficulty  against 
Aegina.  The  quarrel  with  this  neighbouring  island-state 
induced  the  Athenians  now  to  build  ships,  and  the  man  who 
suggested  this  (doubtless  foreseeing  Salamis)  was  the  great 
statesman  Themistocles. 

Bven  before  the  battle  of  Marathon  he  had  been  archon,^ 
and  had  carried  a  measure  for  the  fortification  of  the  Peiraeus 
and  the  preparation  of  docks  in  the  three  natural  harbours ; 
and  the  work  was  begun  ;  but  it  was  not  completed  until 
after  the  Persian  wars.  Themistocles,  as  we  are  told  by 
Thucydides  in  a  masterly  analysis  of  his  character  (i.  138), 
was  "  the  best  judge  of  things  present  with  the  least  delibera- 
tion, and  the  best  conjecturer  of  the  future/'  This  insight 
and  foresight  made  him  beHeve  that  the  safety  of  Greece 
and  the  future  greatness  of  Athens  depended  on  her  sea-power. 

Marathon  had  been  a  victory  for  Athenian  hoplites — the  high- 
class  citizens  of  Athens,  whose  political  leaders  were  Aristides 
and  Xanthippus.  Themistocles,  though  no  professional  party- 
leader  or  demagogue,  gained  the  allegiance  of  the  mercantile  and 
naval  part  of  the  population,  of  that '  nautical  rabble '  on  which 
Aristophanes — the  praiser  of  good  old  Marathonian  times — 
pours  such  contempt.  The  claims  of  the  Peiraeus  were  begin- 
ning to  make  themselves  heard.  It  was  felt  by  some  that 
Athens,  if  she  was  to  be  a  great  maritime  power,  should  not 
be  at  the  distance  of  four  miles  from  the  sea,  and  doubtless  the 
transference  of  the  city  to  the  Peiraean  peninsula  would  have 
saved  her  from  enormous  difficulties  and  expenses  (such  as 
those  connected  with  her  Long  Walls)  ;  but  the  feeling  against 
abandoning  the  ancestral  site  and  the  Acropolis  was  exceedingly 
strong  and  prevailed.  The  policy  urged  by  Themistocles  was 
that  of  fortifying  the  harbours  of  Athens  and  increasing  her 
navy.  About  the  year  483  fortune  offered  him  the  following 
opportunity.     *'  The  Athenians,  having  a  large  sum  of  money 

*  If  this  was,  as  stated,  in  493-2,  and  if  he  was  born,  as  stated,  about  514, 
he  would  have  been  only  about  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Hitherto  the  open 
beach  of  Phaleron  had  sufficed  for  the  warships. 

246 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

in  their  treasury,  the  produce  of  the  mines  at  lyaurion  [near 
Sunion],  were  meaning  to  distribute  it  among  the  full-grown 
citizens,  who  would  have  received  ten  drachmae  apiece,  when 
Themistocles  persuaded  them  to  build  with  the  money  two 
hundred  ships  " — more  probably  to  raise  their  navy  to  this 
number — "  to  help  them  in  their  war  against  the  Aeginetans. 
.  .  .  The  new  ships  were  not  used  for  this  purpose,  but  became 
a  help  to  Greece  in  her  hour  of  need." 

About  the  personality  of  Themistocles  and  his  two  chief 
rivals,  Xanthippus  and  Aristides,  a  few  words  should  be  said. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  middle-class  Athenian,  Neocles.  His  mother 
was  a  foreigner,  a  Thracian  or  Halicarnassian.  He  owed, 
therefore,  his  citizenship  to  the  late  reforms  of  Cleisthenes, 
and  his  early  political  pre-eminence  under  such  unfavourable 
conditions  to  very  unusual  abilities.  His  meteor-like  career 
and  fall  will  be  related  in  connexion  with  historical  events. 
Probably  no  one  ever  earned  more  justly  the  name  of  a 
saviour  of  his  country,  nor  that  of  a  traitor — although  many 
illustrious  Greeks  contest  with  him  the  latter  title  to  fame. 

Xanthippus  was  connected  through  his  wife,  Agarista 
(a  niece  of  the  reformer  Cleisthenes),  with  the  celebrated ^^l 
Alcmaeonidae.  He  was  a  leader  of  the  old  democratic  party, 
which  held  to  the  reforms  of  Cleisthenes  against  the  more 
advanced  radical  and  nautical  doctrines  of  Themistocles. 
In  483,  things  having  come  to  a  crisis  between  the  two  parties, 
an  appeal  was  made  to  ostracism  and  Xanthippus  was  banished 
(see  Fig.  75).  At  the  battle  of  Salamis  he  returned,  was  made 
admiral  in  place  of  Themistocles  in  479,  and  fought  at  My cale. 
He  was  the  father  of  Pericles,  who  began  to  take  part  in  public 
affairs  about  469. 

Aristides  was  of  noble  Athenian  family.  He  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  one  of  the  generals  at  Marathon.  In  the  following  year 
he  was  archon.  He  had  been  an  intimate  friend  of  Cleisthenes 
(who  had  evidently  died  about  500) .  His  character  gained  him 
the  surname  '  the  Just.'  He  took  part  with  Xanthippus 
in  opposing  the  policy  of  Themistocles,  and  like  him  was 
ostracized   (483   or  482).     In  this  connexion  a  rather  trite 

247 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

story  should  perhaps  be  retold.  An  ilHterate  voter  appealed 
to  a  bystander  to  scratch  on  his  ostrakon  (potsherd)  the  name 
Aristides.  The  bystander,  who  happened  to  be  Aristides 
himself,  complied  with  the  request,  but  asked  the  man  why  he 
wished  to  ostracize  Aristides.  "  Because,"  was  the  answer, 
"  I'm  so  tired  of  hearing  him  called  the  Just."  Aristides, 
permitted  to  return,  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Salamis,  as  we 
shall  see,  and  became  a  great  power  in  the  state.  To  him  and 
Cimon,  the  son  of  Miltiades,  was  chiefly  due  the  building  up 
of  the  Athenian  Empire.  He  lived  to  see  the  ostracism  of 
Themistocles,  and  died,  almost  in  poverty,  in  the  year  468. 

Ivct  us  now  turn  to  Persia.  After  the  return  of  Datis  and 
Artaphernes  the  determination  of  Darius  to  chastise  Greece 
seems  to  have  urged  him  to  collect  a  still  vaster  armament. 
But  in  the  midst  of  these  preparations  he  died  (485).  His 
latter  years  had  been  troubled  by  the  quarrels  of  his  sons 
in  regard  to  the  succession.  Artabazanes  was  the  eldest, 
but  was  born  before,  whereas  Xerxes  was  born  soon  after, 
the  accession  of  Darius.  Moreover,  the  mother  of  Xerxes  was 
Atossa,  the  daughter  of  Cyrus  and  widow  of  Cambyses,  and 
she  was  regarded  as  the  chief  wife  of  Darius.  He  therefore 
(influenced  also,  it  is  said,  by  the  arguments  of  the  exiled 
Spartan  Demaratus,  who  had  himself  lost  his  kingship  through 
a  question  of  legitimacy)  appointed  Xerxes  as  his  heir.  Xerxes 
was  a  mere  youth.  He  was  at  first  "  coldly  disposed  towards 
a  Grecian  war,"  and  gave  his  attention  to  subduing  Egypt, 
which  had  revolted,  and  over  which  he  set  his  brother  Achae- 
menes  as  satrap.  (Achaemenes  led  the  Egyptian  naval  contingent 
in  the  invasion  of  Greece,  and  was  afterwards  killed  in  Egypt.) 
After  his  return  from  Egypt  Xerxes  called  a  council  and  pledged 
himself  "  not  to  rest  till  he  had  taken  and  burnt  Athens." 
The  plan  was  warmly  supported  by  Mardonius,  who  had' con- 
stantly incited  Xerxes  to  avenge  the  Persians,  and  had  been 
seconded  by  messengers  from  the  Aleuadae  (the  Thessalian 
princes  who  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Persians),  and  by 
certain  Peisistratidae  (perhaps  sons  of  Hippias),  as  well  as  by  an 
'  oracle-monger,'  Onomacritus  by  name,  who  had  long  ago  been 
24-8 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

banished  by  Hipparchus  from  Athens  for  having  forged 
prophecies  under  the  venerable  name  of  Musaeus.  This 
Orphic  seer  "  had  plied  Xerxes  with  his  oracles,  and  the 
Peisistratidae  and  Aleuadae  had  not  ceased  to  press  him  with 
their  advice,  till  at  last  Xerxes  had  yielded."  But  his  uncle 
Artabanus  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  attempt,  extolling 
the  invincible  bravery  of  the  Greeks,  while  Mardonius  sneered 
at  them  as  cowards,  saying,  "  Though  I  went  as  far  as  Mace- 
donia and  came  little  short  of  reaching  Athens  itself,  yet  not  a 
soul  ventured  to  come  out  against  me  to  battle."  Xerxes 
was  disquieted  by  the  advice  of  his  uncle  ;  but  he  had  a  vision 
which  bade  him  keep  to  his  former  decision,  and  after  the 
vision  had  twice  appeared  he  bade  Artabanus  don  the  royal 
robes  and  lay  himself  on  the  royal  bed.  The  vision  then 
appeared  also  to  him,  and  "  threatened  him  and  endeavoured 
to  burn  out  his  eyes  with  red-hot  irons."  So  he  was  convinced  ; 
and,  encouraged  by  still  another  vision,  Xerxes  sent  forth 
orders  to  all  the  nations  in  the  Persian  Empire  to  collect  men 
and  horses  and  chariots  and  transports  and  ships  of  war. 

Herodotus  uses  all  the  resources  of  his  inimitable  art  in 
order  to  impress  one  with  the  incomparable  vastness  of  the 
armament  of  Xerxes.  Some  of  his  statistics  may  perhaps  be 
questionable,  but  in  spite  of  all  that  it  has  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  scepticism  and  criticism  his  account  of  the  invasion 
still  remains  by  far  the  most  worthy  of  perusal,  for  it  is  a  work 
of  art  and  not  merely  a  bare  enumeration  of  well-authenticated 
facts.  As  my  space  allows  me  only  the  choice  between  con- 
structing a  narrative  from  provable  statistics  and  offering 
some  of  the  innumerable  pictures  delineated  by  Herodotus, 
I  shall  adopt  the  latter  course,  leaving  it  to  the  reader  to  fill 
up,  if  necessary,  the  numerous  gaps  by  reference  to  some 
shortly  told  history  of  Greece. 

"  In  the  first  place,  because  the  former  fleet  had  met  with  so 
great  a  disaster  at  Athos,  preparations  were  made  there  during 
three  years.  Detachments  were  sent  by  the  various  nations 
whereof  the  army  was  composed.  These  relieved  each  other 
in  turn  and  worked  at  a  moat  beneath  the  lash.     The  people 

H9 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
dwelling  about  Athos  also  bore  a  part  in  the  labour.  Athos 
is  a  great  mountain  stretching  out  far  into  the  sea,  and  where  it 
ends  towards  the  mainland  there  is  a  neck  of  land  some  twelve 
furlongs  wide,  the  whole  extent  of  which  is  a  level  plain,  broken 
only  by  a  few  low  hills  "  ;  and  the  modern  name  of  the  locality 
(Provlaka)  means  'the  canal  in  front  [of  the  mountain].' 
Distinct  traces  of  Xerxes'  canal  are  still  visible.  The  isthmus  is 
formed  of  deposits  of  sand  and  marl,  and  its  highest  part  is 
only  50  feet  above  sea-level,  so  that  the  cutting  of  a  canal  was 
a  comparatively  easy  task.  "  It  seems  to  me,"  says,  never- 
theless, our  historian,  "  that  Xerxes  was  actuated  by  pride, 
wishing  to  display  his  power  and  to  leave  a  memorial  to  posterity, 
for,  although  it  was  possible  with  no  trouble  at  all  to  have  the 
ships  drawn  across  the  isthmus,  he  ordered  that  a  canal  should 
be  made  of  such  width  as  to  allow  two  triremes  to  pass  abreast 
with  oars  in  action." 

Xerxes  met  the  main  body  of  his  Eastern  troops  in  Cappa- 
docia,  and  spent  the  winter  of  481  at  Sardis.  Meantime  all  the 
contingents  of  nearly  fifty  different  nations,  land  and  sea  forces, 
were  assembling  near  the  Hellespont,  and  preparations  were 
being  made  to  throw  a  double  bridge  across  the  strait.  "  Near 
Sestos  and  just  opposite  Abydos  there  is  a  rocky  tongue  of 
land  which  runs  out  for  some  distance  into  the  sea.  Towards 
this  tongue  they  constructed  a  double  bridge  from  Abydos, 
the  Phoenicians  making  one  line  of  it  with  cables  of  white  flax, 
the  Egyptians  for  the  other  using  ropes  of  papyrus.  But 
after  the  channel  (which  is  seven  furlongs  wide)  had  been 
bridged  it  happened  that  a  great  storm  arose  and  broke  the 
whole  work  to  pieces.  Now  when  Xerxes  heard  thereof  he 
was  filled  with  wrath  and  straightway  sent  orders  that  the 
Hellespont  should  receive  three  hundred  lashes,  and  that 
fetters  should  be  cast  into  it.  Nay,  I  have  even  heard  it  said 
that  he  bade  branders  take  their  irons  and  brand  the  Helles- 
pont. And  while  the  sea  was  thus  punished  by  his  orders, 
he  also  commanded  that  the  overseers  of  the  work  should  lose 
their  heads." 

So  a  new  bridge  was  built.  Six  hundred  and  seventy-four  ships 
250 


A  Late  Black-figured  Hydria 


250 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

of  war  (triremes  and  penteconters)  were  arranged  in  two  lines, 
and  over  each  of  these  were  stretched  by  means  of  capstans  six 
huge  cables,  some  of  flax  and  some  of  papyrus  (the  former  weigh- 
ing not  less  than  fifty-seven  pounds  the  cubit) .  Transversely 
were  laid  immense  planks,  and  a  road  was  formed  with  brush- 
wood and  earth,  and  fenced  with  a  high  boarding,  so  that  the 
animals  should  not  see  the  water.  Then  Xerxes  set  forth  from 
Sardis.  "  At  the  moment  of  departure  the  sun  suddenly  quitted 
his  seat  in  the  heavens,  though  there  were  no  clouds  in  sight.  "^ 
The  omen  was  favourably  interpreted  by  the  Magi,  and  Xerxes 
"  proceeded  on  his  way  with  great  gladness  of  heart.  .  .  . 
First  of  all  went  the  baggage-carriers  and  the  beasts  of  burden, 
and  then  a  vast  crowd  of  many  nations  .  .  .  then  in  front  of 
the  king  a  thousand  picked  horsemen  of  the  Persian  race 
and  a  thousand  spearmen  ;  then  ten  sacred  horses  richly 
caparisoned  and  the  holy  car  of  Zeus  [Ormuzd]  drawn  by  eight 
milk-white  steeds  with  their  charioteer  on  foot ;  for  no  mortal 
may  mount  upon  the  car.  Next  came  Xerxes  himself,  in  a 
chariot  drawn  by  Nisaean  horses — but  when  the  fancy  took 
him  he  would  alight  and  travel  in  a  litter.  Then  immediately 
behind  the  king  a  thousand  spearmen,  the  noblest  of  the 
Persians,  and  a  thousand  Persian  horsemen  ;  then  ten  thousand 
on  foot,  all  picked  men.  And  of  these  last  one  thousand  carried 
spears  with  golden  pomegranates  at  their  lower  ends  instead 
of  spikes,  2  and  these  encircled  the  other  nine  thousand,  who 
bore  on  their  spears  pomegranates  of  silver  ;  and  the  thousand 
Persians  who  followed  after  Xerxes  had  golden  apples." 

On  reaching  Ilium  (Troy),  where  the  water  of  the  Scamander,^ 
naturally  enough,  ' '  failed  to  satisfy  the  thirst  of  men  and  cattle,'  * 

1  Here  our  chronicler  seems  to  have  made  a  slip,  and  to  have  transferred 
to  this  occasion  an  eclipse  which  occurred  in  the  preceding  spring — probably 
before  the  departure  of  Xerxes  from  Susa. 

2  In  the  monuments  of  Persepolis  such  pomegranates  or  apples  may  be 
recognized. 

•  The  Scamander  has,  like  many  rivers  in  hot  countries,  a  wide  bed,  but 
is  reduced  to  a  small  brook  in  summer.  It  was  now  fairly  early  in  the  year  ; 
but,  as  in  other  cases  where  the  veracity  of  Herodotus  has  been  questioned, 
it  is  very  easy  to  believe  that  a  host  of  perhaps  a  milUon  with  innumerable 
beasts  of  burden  would  soon  exhaust  the  drinkable  water  of  such  a  stream. 

251 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Xerxes  (as  afterwards  Alexander)  ascended  the  citadel,  and 
"  made  an  offering  of  a  thousand  oxen  to  the  Trojan  Athene, 
while  the  Magi  poured  libations  to  the  heroes  who  were  slain  at 
Troy."  Thence  he  arrived  at  Abydos,  and  from  a  white  marble 
throne  (or  platform)  viewed  all  his  land  forces  and  all  his  ships  ; 
and  when  the  appointed  day  had  come  "  they  burnt  all  kinds 
of  spices  on  the  bridge  and  strewed  the  way  with  myrtle  boughs, 
while  they  anxiously  waited  for  the  sun,  hoping  to  see  him  as 
he  rose.  And  now  the  sun  appeared  ;  and  Xerxes  took  a 
golden  goblet  and  poured  a  libation  into  the  sea,  praying  the 
while  with  his  face  turned  to  the  sun  ;  and  after  he  had  prayed 
he  cast  the  golden  cup  into  the  Hellespont,  and  with  it  a 
golden  bowl  and  a  Persian  sword  of  the  kind  that  they  call 
acinaces.  I  cannot  say  for  certain  whether  it  was  as  an  offering 
to  the  sun-god  that  he  threw  these  things  into  the  deep,  or 
whether  he  repented  of  having  scourged  the  Hellespont.  .  .  . 
And  as  soon  as  Xerxes  had  reached  the  European  side,  he  stood 
to  contemplate  his  army  as  they  crossed  under  the  lash.  And 
the  crossing  continued  during  seven  days  and  seven  nights, 
without  cessation  or  pause." 

From  Sestos  the  land  forces  marched  westwards  and  met  the 
fleet  at  Doriscus  on  the  Thracian  sea-coast,  near  to  the  river 
Hebrus.  Here  Xerxes  numbered  his  forces.  **  A  body  of  ten 
thousand  men  was  brought  to  a  certain  place  and  made  to 
stand  together  as  close  as  possible  ;  then  a  circle  was  drawn 
round  them  and  the  men  were  let  go ;  then,  where  the  circle 
had  been,  a  fence  was  built  about  the  height  of  a  man's  middle, 
and  the  enclosure  was  filled  continually  with  fresh  troops, 
till  the  whole  of  the  army  had  thus  been  numbered."  The  sum 
total  was  1,700,000.  Herodotus  takes  this  as  the  number  of 
Asiatic  foot-soldiers,  and  adds  80,000  horsemen,  and  also  camel- 
riders  and  charioteers,  and  half  a  million  seamen — the  crews 
and  soldiers  of  1207  triremes  and  3000  smaller  vessels.  Thus, 
together  with  some  300,000  men  pressed  into  service  in  Europe,  ^ 
he  makes  2,641,610  combatants,  and  to  these  he  adds  the  same 

*  Also  quite  half  the  naval  force  was  supplied  by  Greeks,  or  nations  of 
Greek  lineage. 
252 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

number  of  non-combatants,  arriving  at  a  grand  total  of  over 
five  millions.  Doubtless  the  nobles  were  attended  by  their 
harems  and  large  retinues,  but  the  Persian  and  Median 
picked  troops  only  amounted,  including  the  famous  10,000 
*  Immortals,'  to  about  24,000  (Hdt.  vii.  40,  41) — about  one- 
hundredth  of  the  whole  army,  which  was  mainly  a  motley 
host  of  picturesquely  dressed  savages,  many  of  them  only  armed 
with  light  javelins  or  flint-headed  arrows  (or  "  staves  with  one 
end  hardened  in  the  fire  "),  and  certainly  well  able  to  look 
after  themselves  without  such  slaves  and  attendants  as,  for 
instance,  the  Spartan  hoplites  took  into  battle.^  As  for  the 
number  of  combatants  given  by  Herodotus,  we  need  not  whittle 
it  down  to  about  a  seventh,  as  is  done  by  some  sceptics.  Six 
millions,  it  is  said,  took  the  Red  Cross,  and  a  million  combatants, 
with  a  '  vast  multitude  '  of  followers,  composed  the  host  of 
invaders  in  the  First  Crusade  under  far  less  favourable  com- 
missariat conditions.  Doubtless  the  provisioning  of  such  a  vast 
multitude  as  this  army  of  Xerxes  was  difiicult,  but  those  who 
have  had  experience  of  Africans  and  Orientals  know  how  re- 
sourceful they  are,  and  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  immense 
stores  had  been  laid  up  beforehand  in  Thrace,  and  that  the 
whole  country,  according  to  Herodotus,  was  drained  of  its  riches 
by  the  enormous  strain  put  upon  it  (Hdt.  vii.  25  ;  see  also 
vii.  1 18-120,  where  the  cost  of  one  meal  is  reckoned  at  about 
£100,000,  and  the  joke  is  made  that  "  if  the  order  had  been  to 
provide  breakfast  as  well  as  dinner,  the  people  of  Abdera  must 
have  fled,  or  have  been  entirely  ruined  "). 

The  descriptions  given  by  Herodotus  of  the  warriors  of 
the  forty-six  different  nations,  with  their  various  weapons  and 
costumes,  are  most  graphic  and  interesting,  but  are  too  long  to 
repeat.  Doubtless  he  draws  largely  on  his  own  reminiscences, 
for  he  travelled  much  in  the  East  and  in  Africa.  Some  of 
his  word-pictures  are  corroborated  by  Persian  and  Egyptian 
monuments.  In  one  case — that  of  the  Aethiopians — it  seems 
that  the  fashions  in  battle  costume  have  remained  unchanged 
for  some  2400  years,  for,  substituting  zebras  for  horses, 
^  At  Plataea  each  Spartan  hoplite  was  accompanied  by  seven  Helots. 

2S3 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

I  have  seen  exactly  the  same  in  equatorial  Africa.  "  When 
they  went  into  battle,"  says  Herodotus,  '*  they  painted  their 
bodies  half  with  chalk  and  half  with  vermilion.  .  .  .  They 
wore  on  their  heads  the  foreheads  of  horses  with  ears  and  mane 
attached  to  the  scalp,  the  mane  serving  as  a  crest  and  the 
ears  standing  stiffly  upright."  ^ 

Among  the  many  commanders  may  be  noted  Mardonius, 
the  brother-in-law  of  Xerxes,  and  Achaemenes,  his  brother, 
and  that  other  unfortunate  brother  of  his,  Masistes,  whose 
tragic  story  is  told  by  our  historian  (ix.  io8  sq.),  and  that 
queen  of  Halicarnassus,  Artemisia,  who  distinguished  herself 
so  highly  at  Salamis,  and  whose  "  brave  and  manly  spirit 
moved  the  special  wonder "  of  her  fellow-countryman 
Herodotus. 

At  Doriscus  the  king,  having  reviewed  his  land  army, 
"  exchanged  his  chariot  for  a  Sidonian  vessel,  and,  sitting 
beneath  a  golden  awning,  sailed  along  before  the  prows  of  all 
his  vessels,"  drawn  up  at  some  distance  from  the  shore,  "  with 
fighting  men  upon  the  decks  accoutred  as  for  war."  Klate 
with  pride,  he  turned  to  the  exiled  Spartan  king  Demaratus, 
asking  whether  the  Greeks  would  dare  to  oppose  such  an 
armament.  The  answer  was  memorable :  "  Poverty  hath 
at  all  times  been  a  fellow-dweller  with  us  in  the  land,  but 
Valour  has  come  to  us  as  an  ally  whom  we  have  gained  by 
wisdom  and  strict  laws.  .  .  .  Brave  are  all  the  Greeks,  but  as 
for  the  lyacedaemonians  they  will  never  accept  slavery.  As  for 
their  numbers  do  not  ask  ;  for  if  only  a  thousand  take  the 
field  they  will  meet  thee  in  battle,  so  will  any  number,  less  or 
more."  Thereat  Xerxes  laughed  and  rejoined  :  ''  lyct  them 
be  five  thousand  and  we  shall  have  more  than  a  thousand  to 
each  one  of  theirs  "  ;  "  and  much  more  he  said  in  contemptuous 
ridicule  ;  and  Demaratus  answered  all,  and  added  :  '  Though 
they  be  free  men  they  are  not  free  in  all  respects,  for  law  is 
their  master.  This  master  they  fear  more  than  thy  subjects 
fear  thee,  and  his  commandment  is  always  the  same,  for- 
bidding them  to  flee  whatever  be  the  number  of  their  foes, 
*  Heracles  sometimes  thus  wears  his  lion-skin.   Cf.  also  Virg.  A  en.  xi.  680. 

254 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

and  requiring  them  to  stand  firm  and  to  conquer — or  else  to 
die.'  " 

From  Doriscus  the  vast  armament  marched  westward, 
crossed  the  Strymon,  and  arrived  at  Acanthus,  near  the  Athos 
canal.  Then,  passing  through  Chalcidice,  it  reached  Therma 
(later  named  Thessalonice  after  the  sister  of  Alexander  the 
Great).  The  fleet  meanwhile  sailed  through  the  canal  and 
rounded  the  promontories  of  Sithonia  and  Pallene,  gathering 
fresh  supplies  of  men  and  ships  and  provisions  from  the 
numerous  Greek  cities  on  the  coast.  During  the  land  march — 
which  followed  the  same  route  as  that  later  traversed  by  St. 
Paul — "  the  camels  were  set  upon  by  lions  which  came  down  by 
night "  ;  and  Herodotus  adds  :  "  The  whole  of  that  region 
is  full  of  lions  ^  and  wild  bulls  with  huge  horns,  which  are 
imported  into  Greece." 

From  Therma  King  Xerxes  beheld  in  the  far  distance  the 
mountains  Ossa  and  Olympus,  and  embarking  on  a  Sidonian 
vessel  he  visited  the  mouth  of  the  Peneios  (Peneus),  which  dis- 
charges its  waters  through  the  narrow  vale,  or  ravine,  of  Tempe 
(Fig.  48).  "Wise  men,  truly,''  he  remarked,  "are  they  of 
Thessaly,  and  good  reason  they  had  to  change  their  minds, 
for  nothing  more  is  needed  but  to  fill  up  the  gorge  with  an 
embankment,  and  lo  !  all  Thessaly  would  be  laid  under  water." 
And  possibly  he  was  right,  for  Thessaly  was  once  a  great  lake,* 
until,  as  Herodotus  believed,  the  gorge  of  Tempe  was  formed 
by  volcanic  disturbance,  or  by  erosion.  The  remark  of 
Xerxes  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  Thessalians  had  begged  the 
southern  Greeks  to  make  a  stand  at  the  pass  of  Tempe.  Ten 
thousand  hoplites  were  dispatched — the  Athenian  contingent 
under  Themistocles — but  the  Macedonian  king,  Alexander  I,  sent 
to  warn  them  of  the  vastness  of  the  Persian  army,  and  when 
it  was  discovered  that  there  were  several  other  practicable 

^  Aristotle  confirms  this.  Tradition  from  the  age  of  Heracles  to  that  of  the 
Nibelungenlied  asserts  the  presence  of  lions  in  E)urope.  The  '  wild  bull '  is 
probably  the  auerochs  (urus).  Classical  writers  also  tell  of  bonasi  (wild  oxen), 
alces  (elk),  bubali  (buffalo  ?). 

2  The  Greek  tradition  of  the  Deluge  is  connected  with  Thessaly,  the  Greek 
Noah,  Deucalion,  having  been  king  of  Thessalian  Phthia. 

25s 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
passes  from  the  north  (by  one  of  which  Xerxes  led  his 
army)  the  troops  were  recalled ;  whereupon  the  Thessalians, 
doubtless  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  their  Aleuad  princes, 
who  had  long  before  held  treasonable  correspondence  with 
Xerxes  (Hdt.  vii.  6),  "  warmly  espoused  the  side  of  the  Medes, 
and  were  of  the  greatest  service  to  Xerxes  during  the  war." 

This  expedition  had  set  out  while  Xerxes  was  at  Abydos  ; 
for  when  the  Greeks  had  learned  for  certain  that  the  invasion 
would  take  place,  they  had  convened  an  assembly,  under  the 
presidency  of  Sparta,  at  the  Corinthian  isthmus.  It  was  the 
first  time  in  Greek  history  that  a  congress  of  all  the  states  of 
Greece  had  been  summoned — the  first  time  (with  the  exception 
perhaps  of  the  Trojan  War)  that  all  Greece,  indeed  all  the 
Hellenic  world,  was  called  upon  to  co-operate  against  a  common 
enemy.  Besides  deciding  to  defend  Thessaly,  they  agreed  to 
put  an  end  to  all  feuds  among  themselves,  such  as  that  between^ 
Athens  and  Aegina,  and  between  Sparta  and  Argos.  In  spite 
of  the  jealousy  of  Athens,  Sparta  was  given  the  leadership 
on  land  and  on  the  sea.  They  determined  also  to  send  an 
appeal  to  Gelo,  the  powerful  lord  of  Syracuse,  and  to  Corcyra 
and  Crete.  Also  they  at  once  dispatched  spies  to  Sardis, 
while  Xerxes  was  still  there.  The  spies  were  detected,  but 
sent  back  unharmed  by  Xerxes,  "  after  having  been  taken 
round  the  Persian  camp  and  having  viewed  everything  to  their 
hearts'  content  "  ;  for  he  expected  that  the  Greeks,  when  they 
heard  of  the  vastness  of  his  army,  would  submit  and  "  save 
him  the  trouble  of  the  expedition."  The  embassy  to  Gelo, 
"  whose  power  was  said  to  be  far  greater  than  that  of  any 
single  state  in  Greece,"  failed  because  he  demanded  the  chief 
command — or,  anyhow,  the  command  of  the  naval  forces — 
and  when  this  was  indignantly  refused  he  dismissed  the  envoys 
with  the  contemptuous  remark  :  "Ye  have,  it  seems,  no  lack 
of  commanders  ;  but  ye  are  likely  to  lack  men  to  receive  their 
orders."  The  Corey raeans  made  lavish  promises,  but  failed 
to  keep  them — "  watching  to  see  what  turn  the  war  would 
take."  The  Cretans,  warned  by  an  oracle,  refused  point- 
blank.  The  Argives,  when  asked  to  lay  aside  their  feud 
256 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

and  aid  in  repelling  the  Persians,  applied  to  the  Delphic  oracle, 
which,  in  cowardly  fashion,  bade  them  "  warily  guard  their 
own  head."  They  then  made,  like  Gelo,  extravagant  demands, 
and  ultimately  stood  aside — probably  in  collusion  with  the 
Persians.  "  Some,"  says  Herodotus,  "  go  even  so  far  as  to 
say  that  the  Argives  first  invited  the  Persians  to  invade 
Greece,  because  of  their  ill-success  against  I^acedaemon  " — 
nor  is  this  impossible,  for  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Peloponnesian 
War  both  the  Athenians  and  the  I^acedaemonians,  according 
to  Thucydides  (ii.  7),  '*  intended  to  send  embassies  to  the 
Persian  king  and  to  the  barbarians  in  other  parts,  whencesoever 
either  hoped  to  gain  assistance." 

On  their  return  from  Thessaly  the  Greeks  once  more  took 
counsel  together  on  the  Corinthian  isthmus.     "  The  opinion 
prevailed  that  they  should  guard  the  pass  of  Thermopylae^ 
since  it  was  narrower  than  the  Thessalian  defile,  and  at  th^ 
same  time  nearer  to  them.     Of  the  pathway  by  which  th( 
Greeks  who  fell  at  Thermopylae  were  circumvented  they  hac 
no  knowledge  as  yet.     At  the  same  time  it  was  resolved  thai 
the   fleet   should   proceed  to   Artemisium,   in   the   region   oi 
Histiaeotis  [in  Northern  Kuboea]." 

The  Greek  fleet  of  rather  more  than  300  warships,  of  whic] 
200  were  supplied  by  Athens,  took  up  its  station  near  Art( 
misium,  and  the  Persian  fleet  arrived  at  the  precipitous 
promontory  of  Magnesia,  which  is  formed  by  the  long  ridg( 
of  Mount  Pelion.  They  had  sent  forward  ten  swift  ships) 
which  succeeded  in  capturing  three  Greek  vessels  on  the  look- 
out, and  when  fire-signals  ^  from  the  island  Sciathos  informed 
the  Greeks  of  this  disaster  they  "  quitted  their  anchorage 
at  Artemisium,  and,  leaving  scouts  on  the  Euboean  heights  to 
watch  the  enemy,  withdrew  to  Chalcis,  intending  to  guard 
the  Euripus  " — the  narrow  strait  between  Buboea  and  the 
mainland.     But  the  movements  and  sequence  of  events  as 

1  Evidently  some  code  was  used  by  the  Greeks,  for  such  news  could  not 

ihave  been  foreseen.     For  fire-signals  see  Aesch.  Agam.  29  and  272  sq.  ;  Thuc. 

'ii.  94,  iii.  22,  80  ;    Hdt.  vii.  182,  ix.  2  (where  a  system  of  signals  between 

1  Attica  and  Sardis  is  mentioned) .   The  news  of  Plataea  is  said  to  have  reached 

1M7cale  on  ^he  same  day  (see  p.  273). 
R  257 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

described  by  Herodotus  are  difficult  to  follow.  One  great 
fact  emerges — the  wreck  of  400  vessels  of  the  Persian  fleet, 
which  had  taken  up  a  dangerous  position  off  the  harbourless 
Magnesian  coast-line.  "  The  ships  of  the  first  row  were  moored 
to  the  land,  while  the  rest  swung  at  anchor  further  off.  The 
beach  extended  but  a  very  little  way,  so  they  had  to  anchor  off 
the  shore,  row  upon  row,  eight  deep.  In  this  manner  they 
passed  the  night ;  but  at  dawn  calm  and  stillness  gave  place 
to  a  raging  sea  and  a  violent  storm.  .  .  .  Such  as  put  the  loss 
of  the  Persian  fleet  at  lowest  say  that  400  ships  were  destroyed 
and  that  a  countless  multitude  of  men  perished  ^  and  a  vast 
amount  of  treasure  was  engulfed."  To  some  the  fact  may 
appear  not  worthy  of  mention,  but  it  may  help  one  to  realize 
better  the  Greek  character  when  we  learn  that  the  people  of 
Delphi  "  earned  the  everlasting  gratitude  of  the  Greeks " 
for  cheering  them  with  the  oracle  that  "  the  winds  would  do 
Greece  good  service,"  and  that  the  Athenians  attributed  this 
storm  to  the  sacrifices  and  prayers  that  they  offered  to  Boreas 
(to  whom  later  they  erected  a  temple  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ilissus) .  It  is  also  psychologically  if  not  historically  interesting 
to  note  that  the  winds  were  influenced  also  by  the  entreaties 
of  the  foe,  for  "  after  the  storm  had  lasted  three  days,  at  length 
the  Persian  Magi,  by  offering  sacrifices  to  the  winds  and  charm- 
ing them  with  the  help  of  conjurers,  succeeded  in  laying  the 
tempest ;  or  perhaps,"  adds  Herodotus,  "  it  ceased  of  itself." 
The  loss  of  400  vessels  out  of  their  immense  fleet  was  a  matter 
of  no  vital  importance  to  the  Persians.  They  moved  round 
Cape  Sepias  to  the  shelter  of  the  great  Pagasaean  Gulf  and 
took  up  station  near  the  port  whence  Jason  in  the  Argo  put 
forth  on  to  the  high  sea,  called  from  that  fact  *  Aphetae.' 
Meantime  the  Greeks  had  returned  to  Artemisium  and  managed 
to  capture  fifteen  stray  Persian  vessels.  Although  terribly 
alarmed  at  the  huge  fleet  of  Xerxes,  they  held  their  post 
(Themistocles,  it  is  said,  having  received  a  bribe  of  thirty 
talents  from  the  Buboeans,  and  having  given  five  to  the 
Spartan   admiral   Eurybiadas),   and   in   several   engagements 

^  As  also  at  Salamis,  for  the  Persians  could  not  swim  (Hdt.  viii.  89). 
258 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

did  considerable  damage  to  the  enemy  and  captured  thirty 
more  of  their  ships.  But  the  Persians,  determined  on  their 
part  to  capture  the  whole  Greek  fleet,  and  "  not  let  even  a 
torch-bearer  slip  through  their  hands,''  sent  a  squadron  of 
200  warships  to  circumnavigate  Buboea  and  seize  the  strait  of 
the  Buripus.  News  of  this  was  brought  to  the  Greeks,  it  was 
said,  by  a  diver — a  Greek  of  Scione,  ScylHas  by  name.  *'  I 
marvel  much,"  says  Herodotus,  "  if  the  tale  commonly  told  be 
true.  'Tis  said  he  dived  into  the  sea  at  Aphetae  and  did  not 
once  come  to  the  surface  till  he  reached  Artemisium,  a  distance 
of  nearly  eighty  " — really  sixty — ''  furlongs.  Many  things 
are  related  of  this  man  that  are  plainly  false,  but  some  seem 
to  be  true.  For  my  part  I  think  he  made  the  passage  to 
Artemisium  in  a  boat." 

The  200  Persian  ships  never  arrived  at  their  destination. 
*'  Heaven  so  contrived  it  that  the  Persian  fleet  might  not 
greatly  exceed  the  Greek,  but  be  brought  nearly  to  its  level. 
The  squadron  was  therefore  entirely  lost  about  the  Hollows  of 
Buboea." 

The  Greeks  had  scouts  on  watch  near  Thermopylae  and 
near  Artemisium,  ready  to  sail  at  any  moment  with  news. 
The  watches  in  the  Maliac  Gulf  "  now  arrived  at  Artemisium 
with  the  news  of  what  had  befallen  lyconidas  and  those  who  were 
with  him."  Forthwith  the  Greek  fleet  sailed  ofl  southward, 
through  the  Buripus,  and  the  Persians  captured  Histiaea  and 
overran  the  north  of  Buboea. 

Themistocles  had  cut  inscriptions  on  the  rocks  at  various 
places  on  the  coast,  entreating  the  lonians  and  Carians  not  to 
fight  against  their  ancestors,  and  pointing  out  that  it  was 
through  them  that  Greece  had  incurred  the  enmity  of  the 
Persians.  Whether  this  had  any  result  we  are  not  told,  and 
whether  any  of  these  inscriptions  are  extant  I  cannot  say. 

Meanwhile  the  battle  of  Thermopylae  had  been  fought. 

It  was  the  wish  of  the  lyacedaemonians  and  their  Pelopon- 
nesian  allies  that  Northern  Greece  should  be  abandoned  to  its 
fate,  and  that  a  stand  should  be  made  at  the  Isthmus.  But 
they  were  conscious  that  it  would  be  vain  to  hold  the  Isthmus 

259 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

if  the  Persians  had  the  supremacy  on  the  sea/  and  that  their 
safety  depended  on  the  fleet,  two-thirds  of  which  belonged 
to  Athens.  To  please  the  Athenians,  therefore,  they  sent  a 
small  body  of  men  northwards.  "  They  intended  presumably, 
when  they  had  celebrated  the  Carnean  festival,  to  hasten  in 
full  force  to  join  the  army  ;  and  the  rest  of  their  allies  intended 
to  act  similarly,  for  it  happened  that  the  Olympic  Games  fell 
exactly  at  this  period. ^  None  of  them  expected  that  the 
contest  at  Thermopylae  would  be  decided  so  speedily  ;  there- 
fore they  were  content  to  send  forward  merely  an  advance- 
guard."  lyconidas  took  with  him  300  Spartan  veterans^ 
and  some  3000  other  Peloponnesians,  and  was  joined  by  about 
3000  from  Northern  Greece,  including  400  Thebans,  whom  he 
"  made  a  point  of  demanding  from  Thebes,  because  the 
Thebans  were  strongly  suspected  of  being  well  inclined  to  the 
Medes  " — a  suspicion  which,  if  we  can  believe  Herodotus, 
was  fully  confirmed  by  their  shameful  surrender  in  the  midst 
of  the  fight  at  Thermopylae,  where  they  suffered  the  indignity 
of  being  branded  as  fugitive  slaves  by  the  Persian  victor 
(Hdt.  vii.  233.  But  later  writers  know  nothing  of  this,  and 
perhaps  Herodotus  was  influenced  by  the  bitter  anti-Theban 
feeling  prevalent  after  the  Persian  wars) . 

The  pass  of  Thermopylae  has  been  much  broadened  by 
alluvial  deposits.  A  swampy  plain  of  about  two  miles  now 
separates  the  waters  of  the  Maliac  Gulf  from  the  precipices 
of  Mount  Kallidromos.  Formerly  the  pass  itself  (by  the  hot 
sulphur  springs)  was  about  fifty  feet  wide,  and  there  were  two 
other  places  where  it  was  still  narrower,   that  to  the  east 

1  In  a  fine  passage  (vii.  139)  Herodotus  expresses  his  convictions  on  this 
point  and,  Doric  as  he  was  by  origin,  shows  his  impartiality.  "  I  cannot 
see,"  he  says,  "  what  possible  use  walls  across  the  Isthmus  could  have  been 
if  the  king  had  had  the  mastery  on  the  sea.  If,  then,  a  man  should  say  that 
the  Athenians  were  the  saviours  of  Greece,  he  would  not  exceed  the  truth." 
With  this  compare  the  advice  given  to  Xerxes  by  Demaratus  (vii.  235) — 
viz.  to  send  ships  to  attack  the  coasts  of  Laconia,  and  "  the  Isthmus  and  the 
cities  of  the  Peloponnese  will  surrender  without  a  battle." 

2  Cf.  p.  240. 

»  All  fathers  with  sons  living.  Sparta  only  possessed  8000  full-grown 
Sp  artiats,  if  we  are  to  believe  Demaratus.  The  numbers  given  by  Herodotus 
(vii.  202)  do  not  seem  to  agree  with  the  inscription  that  he  quotes  (vii.  228). 

260 


I 


69.    THERMOPYIyAE 


70.  Tomb  of  IvEonidas  (?) 


260 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

allowing  only  the  passage  of  a  single  wagon  (Herodotus  how- 
ever speaks  of  marshes  between  the  road  and  the  sea).  At 
Thermopylae  itself  there  were  the  remains  of  an  ancient  wal\^ 
built  by  the  Phocians  as  a  defence  against  the  Thessalians. 
This  the  Greeks  now  repaired,  and  here  they  determined  to 
make  their  stand.  Xerxes  took  up  his  headquarters  at 
Trachis,  just  to  the  west  of  the  pass,  and  "  after  waiting  four 
days,  expecting  that  the  Greeks  would  run  away,  he  grew 
wroth  with  their  impudence,"  and  sent  Median  troops,  who 
were  beaten  back  with  great  loss,  and  then  commanded  his 
Immortals  to  attack.  "  They,  it  was  thought,  would  soon 
finish  the  business."  But  they  too  were  repelled,  and  "  during 
these  assaults,  it  is  said,  Xerxes,  who  was  watching  the  battle, 
thrice  leaped  from  the  throne  on  which  he  was  sitting,  in 
terror  for  his  army."  On  the  third  day  the  traitor  appeared. 
Bphialtes,^  a  man  of  Malis,  offered  to  guide  the  Persians  by 
a  steep  pathway  across  the  mountains  so  as  to  cut  off 
the  Greeks  in  the  rear.  Xerxes  sent  Hydarnes  with  the 
Immortals — probably  not  all  the  Ten  Thousand.  They 
ascended  the  ravine  of  the  stream  Asopus,  between  the 
Trachinian  cliffs  and  Mount  Oeta  (famous  in  connexion  with 
the  legends  of  Heracles),  and  surprised  at  break  of  day  and 
put  to  rout  the  thousand  Phocians  who  were  guarding  this 
mountain  path.  I^eonidas,  having  learnt  the  fact  from  a  seer 
and  from  deserters,  ^  dismissed  all  the  Greeks  except  his  300 
Spartans,  the  Thebans  (whose  fidelity  he  suspected),  and 
700  Thespians.  It  is  just  possible  that  he  detached  other 
troops — numbering  perhaps  about  2500 — in  order  to  oppose 
the  Immortals  ;  but  we  hear  of  no  collision.  According  to 
Herodotus,  the  devoted  band  of  Spartans  and  Thespians, 
having  retreated  to  a  hillock,  were  assaulted  on  both  sides 

1  It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  Herodotus  names  others  ;  but  he  feels  so  certain 
that  he  "  leaves  this  name  on  record  "  as  that  of  the  real  perpetrator.  Bphialtes, 
anyhow,  had  a  price  set  on  his  head  by  the  deputies  of  the  Amphictionic 
Council,  which,  by  the  way,  had  its  ancient  meeting-place  at  Anthela,  in  the 
pass  of  Thermopylae. 

2  Both  rather  strange  sources.  The  seer  was  Megistias,  who  refused  to  desert 
Leonidas  and  was  killed  and  had  the  honour  of  an  epitaph  by  Simonides 
(Hdt.  vii.  221,  228).    Who  the  deserters  could  have  been  is  not  easy  to  say. 

261 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
and  massacred,  while  the  Thebans  surrendered.  I^ater  and 
more  rhetorical  writers  describe  the  battle  with  ridiculous 
exaggeration.  One  asserts  that  the  Spartans  not  only  drove 
back  the  Persians  to  their  camp,  but  that  I^eonidas  snatched 
the  diadem  from  the  head  of  Xerxes.  The  account  given  by 
Herodotus  bears  the  impress  of  truthfulness  and  impartiality 
— except  possibly  in  regard  to  the  Thebans.  The  loss  of  the 
Persians  he  gives  at  20,000  (probably  too  many)  and  that  of 
the  Greeks  at  4000,  including  many  Helots  {seven  of  whom 
generally  attended  each  Spartan).  He  asserts  that  Xerxes 
gave  permission  to  the  seamen  of  the  fleet  to  come  and  view 
the  battlefield,  and  buried  or  concealed  all  the  Persian  dead 
except  a  thousand.  "  It  was  indeed  most  truly  a  laughable 
device— on  the  one  side  1000  men  lying  strewn  all  about  the 
field,  on  the  other  4000  crowded  together  on  one  spot."  Two 
brothers  of  Xerxes  were  among  the  slain.  The  body  of 
lyconidas  was  maltreated  by  Xerxes,  who  cut  off  the  head 
and  crucified  the  trunk.  This  act  excited  the  wonder  of 
Herodotus  :  "for  the  Persians  are  wont  to  honour  those 
who  show  themselves  valiant  in  fight  more  than  any  nation 
I  know  " — a  statement  that  is  confirmed  by  many  of  his 
anecdotes.  The  sulphur  springs  still  exist,  and  their  water 
is  bluish  green,  just  as  it  is  described  by  Pausanias.  About 
a  mile  to  the  west  of  these  springs  is  a  round  hillock  which 
is  probably  the  mound  (KoXumg)  on  which  the  Spartans 
and  Thespians  made  their  last  stand.  "  The  hillock,"  says 
Herodotus,  "is  at  the  entrance  of  the  pass  " — i.e.  as  one 
comes  from  the  west — "  where  the  stone  lion  stands  ^  which 
was  set  up  in  honour  of  I^eonidas.  .  .  .  The  slain  were  buried 
where  they  fell,  and  in  their  honour  and  for  those  no  less  who 
were  slain  before  lyconidas  sent  away  the  allies  an  inscrip- 
tion was  set  up  .  .  .  and  another  for  the  Spartans  alone." 
For  these  inscriptions  (rejected  as  later  bombast  by  some 
modern  critics)  see  p.  200.  It  will  be  noticed  that  4000 
"  from  Pelops'  land  "  are  mentioned.  On  a  column  at  Sparta, 
which  was  seen  six  hundred  years  later  by  Pausanias,  were 

^  This  lion  existed  till  the  time  of  Tiberius. 
262 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

engraved  the  names  of  I^eonidas  and  his  300  Spartans — or 
299,  for  one,  being  ill,  or  not  returning  when  sent  on  a  message, 
escaped.  He  was  treated  with  great  contumely,  but  "  wiped 
away  all  his  disgrace  at  Plataea,"  where  he  was  slain. 

The  Persian  army  now  poured  into  Phocis,  Boeotia,  and 
Attica.  The  Phocians  took  refuge  on  Mount  Parnassus,  and 
the  temple  of  Delphi  was  only  saved  by  the  aid  of  the  god, 
who  repulsed  the  barbarian  plunderers  by  lightning  and  by 
hurHng  down  from  the  heights  great  masses  of  rock — seen 
afterwards  by  Herodotus.  The  Thespians  and  Plataeans, 
who  alone  of  the  Boeotians  had  not  surrendered,  fled  to  the 
Peloponnese,  and  their  towns  were  burnt  and  plundered. 
Attica  was  ravaged.  When  Athens  was  reached  it  was  found 
to  be  deserted,  except  for  a  small  garrison  in  the  Acropolis, 
who  had  "  barricaded  the  citadel  with  planks  and  boards/' 
in  accordance  with  what  they  held  to  be  the  meaning  of  a 
Delphic  oracle.  For  the  Pythian  god,  though  he  defended 
his  own  treasure,  gave  what  seems  craven  counsel  in  this 
hour  of  need.  He  had  bidden  the  Argives  "  warily  guard 
their  own  head,"  and  when  the  Athenians  sent  messengers  to 
Delphi  they  were  consternated  by  the  answer  that  all  was 
lost — head  and  body,  hands  and  feet — and  that  they  were  to 
depart  from  the  sanctuary  and  "  o'erspread  their  hearts  with 
woes"  ;  and  when  they  as  suppliants  implored  a  more  comfort- 
able response,  the  priestess  answered  that  Athene  could  gain 
no  more  from  Olympian  Zeus  except  the  promise  that  their 
*  wooden  wall '  should  remain  undestroyed.  Some  interpreted 
this  literally,  and  demanded  that  the  Acropolis  should  be 
fortified  with  wood  and  be  strongly  garrisoned,  and  this  seems 
to  have  been  done.  But  Themistocles  (whom  some  accuse 
of  having  prompted  the  oracle)  persuaded  the  great  majority 
that  by  the  '  wooden  wall '  was  meant  the  fleet,  and  the  ques- 
tion now  to  be  decided  was  whether  to  "  quit  Attica  without 
lifting  a  hand  and  make  a  settlement  in  some  other  country  " 
— as  the  Phocaeans  and  Samians  had  done — or  to  venture  a 
sea-fight.  In  any  case  Athens  would  have  to  be  abandoned 
for  a  time.    Themistocles  and  his  fellow-generals  "  issued  a 

263 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

proclamation  that  every  Athenian  should  save  his  children 
and  household  as  best  he  could.  Whereupon  some  sent  their 
families  to  Aegina,  some  to  Salamis,  but  the  greater  number 
to  Troezen.  This  removal  was  made  with  all  possible  haste, 
partly  from  the  desire  to  obey  the  oracle,  but  still  more  for 
another  reason."  This  reason  was  that  the  huge  serpent  which 
lived  in  the  temple  of  Athene  Polias  (or  was  supposed  to  live 
there,  for  Herodotus  throws  doubt  on  its  existence)  no  longer 
consumed  its  honey-cake  ;  "so  they  believed  that  the  goddess 
had  already  abandoned  the  Acropohs."  Xerxes  therefore 
found  and  sacked  a  deserted  city.  The  Persians  set  fire  to 
the  wooden  wall  of  the  Acropolis,  and  after  two  weeks'  siege 
scaled  the  north  side  by  a  secret  path,  massacred  the  garrison, 
and  destroyed  the  temples  and  statues.  {The  destruction  was 
completed  on  the  later  occupation  by  Mardonius.) 

Meantime  the  Spartans  under  Cleombrotus  (the  regent  for 
the  child-king,  Pleistarchus,  son  of  I^eonidas),  together  with 
their  allies — ^Arcadians,  Corinthians,  Eleans,  and  others — ^were 
busily  fortifying  the  Isthmus.  They  blocked  the  Scironian 
Way,  which  led  past  precipitous  rocks  on  the  eastern  shore, 
and  then  "  decided  to  build  a  wall  right  across  the  Isthmus. 
Stones,  bricks,  timber,  baskets  filled  with  sand,  were  used  .  .  . 
and  they  laboured  ceaselessly  night  and  day."  Their  policy 
was  not  only  selfish  but  foolish,  for  had  Themistocles  carried 
out  his  threat  made  to  the  Spartan  admiral  Burybiadas,  to 
sail  away  with  all  the  Athenians  and  refound  the  city  of 
Siris  in  Italy,  little  would  have  availed  them  their  Isthmian 
wall. 

Councils  were  held  now  on  both  sides.  The  fleet  of  Xerxes 
had  arrived  off  Phaleron,  and  he  came  aboard  a  ship  (probably 
his  favourite  Sidonian  vessel)  and  "  sat  in  a  seat  of  honour  ; 
and  the  sovereigns  of  nations  and  the  captains  of  ships  were 
sent  for,  and  took  their  seats  according  to  the  rank  assigned 
them  of  the  king.  In  the  first  seat  sat  the  king  of  Sidon,  and 
after  him  the  king  of  Tyre,  and  then  the  rest  in  their  order. 
And  Xerxes  sent  Mardonius  and  questioned  each  whether 
a  sea-fight  should  be  risked  or  no.  And  all  gave  the  same 
264 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

answer,  advising  to  engage  the  Greeks,  except  only  Artemisia/' 
The  speech  of  Artemisia,  as  given  by  Herodotus,  was  audacious 
in  its  contempt  for  the  seamanship  of  the  king's  allies  and  for 
its  advice  to  risk  no  naval  engagement.  It  was  fully  expected 
that  "  her  life  would  be  forfeit."  But  Xerxes  took  it 
good-naturedly  and  "  gave  orders  that  the  advice  of  the 
greater  number  should  be  followed,  and  resolved  that  he 
himself  would  be  an  eye-witness  of  the  combat." 

The  council  of  the  Greeks  was  of  a  stormier  character. 
The  Spartan  admiral  Eurybiadas,  seconded  by  the  Corinthian 
captain  Adeimantus,  insisted  that  the  fleet  should  retire  to 
the  Isthmus,  and  thus  abandon  Salamis,  Aegina,  and  Megara ; 
and  fierce  altercations  took  place  between  them  and  Themis- 
tocles,  who  when  bidden  to  be  silent,  "  since  he  was  a  man 
without  a  city,"  replied  with  justice  that  his  200  ships  of  war 
were  as  good  as  any  city  in  Greece.  Eurybiadas,  conscious 
that  the  only  safety  for  the  Peloponnese  lay  in  these  ships 
(for  of  378  warships  the  Athenians  supplied  200),  at  length 
yielded  ;  but  Themistocles  still  feared  the  influence  of  the 
Peloponnesians,  and  sent  a  secret  message  to  the  commanders 
of  the  Persian  fleet,  saying  that  "  fear  had  seized  the  Greeks 
and  they  were  meditating  a  hasty  flight."  Forthwith  the 
Persians  "  landed  troops  on  the  islet  Psyttaleia,  between 
Salamis  and  the  mainland,  and  advanced  their  western  wing 
towards  Salamis  ^  so  as  to  enclose  the  Greeks,  moving  forward 
at  the  same  time  their  centre  so  ats  to  fill  the  whole  strait  as 
far  as  Munychia."  >^ 

At  this  critical  moment  Herodotus  brings  on  to  the  stage 
Aristides.  He  and  Xanthippus  and  other  political  exiles 
had  been  recalled  while  Xerxes  was  still  in  Thessaly,  but  he 
seems  to  have  delayed  his  return,  and  is  now  just  in  time  to 
co-operate  with  Themistocles  (to  whom  he  offers  reconciliation) 
and  to  announce  to  the  council  of  sea-captains  that  "  he  has 
come  from  Aegina  and  has  barely  escaped,  for  the  Greek 
fleet   is    now  entirely  enclosed    by  the  ships   of    Xerxes." 

1  Diodorus,  but  not  Herodotus,  says  that  200  Kgyptian  vCvSsels  were  sent 
round  Salamis  to  the  south  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  Greeks. 

265 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
While  they  still  doubted  a  Tenian  trireme,  which  had  deserted 
from  the  Persians  ("  and  for  this  reason  the  Tenians  were 
described  on  the  tripod  at  Delphi  among  those  who  overthrew 
the  barbarian"),  arrived  and  confirmed  the  news.  The  battle 
of  Salamis  (September  20,  480)  is  described  graphically  by 
Herodotus  (vii.  84  sq.),  and  also  by  Aeschylus  (Persae,  359  sq.), 
who  was  an  eye-witness  but  as  a  poet  perhaps  may  have 
drawn  somewhat  on  his  imagination.  The  main  features  in 
both  descriptions  are  similar.  Numerous  modern  reconstruc- 
tions have  been  made,  and  almost  every  detail  given  by  older 
writers  has  been  questioned  or  modified.  Some  theorists 
(e.g.  Gobineau  and  Chamberlain)  have  even  doubted  whether 
any  real  sea-battle  took  place. 

The  main  body  of  the  Greek  fleet  engaged  the  Phoenicians 
and  the  rest  of  the  Persian  centre  in  the  strait  between 
Salamis  and  Mount  Aegaleos  (at  the  base  of  which  Xerxes 
sat  on  his  throne  viewing  the  conflict),  "  fighting  in  order  and 
keeping  their  line,  while  the  barbarians  were  in  confusion  and 
had  no  plan  in  any  of  their  movements,  so  that  the  result  of 
the  battle  could  scarce  be  other  than  it  was."  The  immense 
number  of  the  Persian  ships  proved  disastrous  to  them. 
While  attempting  to  overwhelm  the  Greeks  they  crowded 
tumultuously  into  the  narrow  strait,  and  the  repulse  of  the 
foremost  lines  threw  all  the  vast  throng  of  vessels  into 
inextricable  confusion  (vii.  89).  Then  the  Aeginetan  ships, 
which  formed  the  right  wing  of  the  Greek  fleet,  ^  managed  to 
turn  the  left  wing  of  the  Persians  (held  by  the  lonians)  and 
charged  the  disordered  centre  of  the  enemy's  fleet,  while 
Aristides,  "  taking  a  number  of  Athenian  hoplites  which  were 
drawn  up  on  the  shore  of  Salamis,  landed  them  on  the  islet 
of  Psyttaleia  and  slew  all  the  Persians  by  whom  it  was 
occupied."     The  attack  of  the  Aeginetans  decided  the  battle. ^ 

1  Either  inside  the  strait  or  on  the  south-east  coast  of  Salamis. 

2  They  were  accorded  the  first  prize  for  valour  {to.  dpLo-Tela).  The  Corin- 
thians were,  perhaps  unfairly,  accused  by  the  Athenians  of  having  tried  to 
desert  in  the  midst  of  the  battle.  Aeschylus  represents  Xerxes  as  tearing  his 
raiment  and  uttering  shrieks  when  he  saw  the  slaughter  on  Psyttaleia.  I 
have  omitted  the  well-known  story  of  Artemisia  sinking  a  friendly  ship  to 
save  herself  (Hdt.  vii.  87). 

266 


71.  Bay  of  Sai^amis 


72.  Wai,i,s  of  Themistoci,e;s 


266 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

The  Persians  collected  their  vessels  at  Phaleron,  and  the 
Greeks,  "  expecting  another  attack,  made  preparations." 
But  Herodotus  represents  Xerxes  as  in  a  great  state  of  panic. 
"  He  riiade  up  his  mind  to  fly  ;  but,  as  he  wished  to  hide  his 
project  alike  from  the  Greeks  and  his  own  people,  he  set  to 
work  to  carry  a  mound  across  the  strait  to  Salamis,  and  at  the 
same  time  began  fastening  a  number  of  Phoenician  merchant- 
ships  togethefl  to  serve  at  once  for  a  bridge  and  a  rampart." 
But  his  brothqr-in-law  Mardonius  was  not  deceived,  for  "  long 
acquaintance  toabled  him  to  read  all  the  king's  thoughts," 
and  with  the  approval  also  of  Artemisia,  who  reminded  Xerxes 
that  he  had  burnt  Athens  and  thus  had  gained  the  purpose  of 
his  expedition,  the  plan  was  formed  that  the  king  should 
return  to  the  Bast^yerland^hat  the  fleet  should  at  once  sail 
to  the  Hellespont  to  guard  the  bridge,  and  that  Mardonius, 
after  escorting  the  king  throughTThessaly,  should  retain  300,000 
men,  including  the  10,000  Immortals,  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
pleting the  conquest  of  Greece. 

If  all  the  tales  told  of  the  return  of  Xerxes  are  true  it  was 
as  disastrous  as  Napoleon's  retreat  from  Moscow.  Herodotus 
himself  refuses  to  believe  that  the  king  "  never  once  loosed 
his  girdle  till  he  came  to  the  city  of  Abdera,  not  feeling  himself 
till  then  in  safety  "  ;  but  he  tells  us  that  famine  and  disease 
so  thinned  the  ranks  of  his  troops  that  he  reached  the  Helles- 
pont with  a  mere  fraction  of  his  former  army.  Aeschylus 
draws  on  his  imagination  and  gives  us  a  fine  picture,  scarcely 
less  impressive  than  that  of  the  disaster  of  Pharaoh's  host 
in  the  Red  Sea.  He  tells  us  how  the  Strymon,  frozen  over  in 
a  single  night  and  unfrozen  by  the  heat  of  the  next  day's  sun, 
swallowed  up  great  numbers  of  panic-stricken  fugitives.  By 
some  Xerxes  is  said  to  have  taken  ship  from  Eion  (on  the 
Strymon)  and  to  have  been  nearly  lost  in  a  storm — during 
which,  in  order  to  lighten  the  vessel,  a  great  number  of  Persian 
nobles,  "  having  made  obeisance,  leaped  overboard."  Others 
say  that  he  reached  the  Hellespont,  but  found  the  bridge 
destroyed  by  storms — not  that  this  was  of  much  consequence, 
for  his  fleet  had  arrived. 

267 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

The  Greeks  had  pursued  the  ships  of  the  enemy  only  as  far 
as  Andros.  Themistocles  had  tried  to  induce  them  to  con- 
tinue the  pursuit  and  annihilate  the  Persian  fleet,  but  the 
Peloponnesians  were  still  afraid  that  the  land  forces  of  Xerxes 
might  march  against  the  Isthmus,  and  refused  to  set  sail.^ 
Then,  it  is  said,  Themistocles  once  more  sent  a  messenger 
(the  same  faithful  slave,  Sicinnus,  the  tutor  to  his  sons)  and 
informed  Xerxes  that  it  was  by  his  own  influence  that  the 
pursuit  had  been  abandoned.  Possibly  this  was  a  fabrication 
of  later  days,  after  Themistocles  had  proved  a  traitor  ;  possibly 
it  was  a  result  of  that  preternatural  insight  into  the  future 
with  which  he  is  credited  by  Thucydides.  However  that 
may  be,  he  is  said  to  have  urged  this  act  as  a  reason  for 
expecting  favour  when  he  reached  the  court  of  Xerxes  as  an 
exile. 

That  the  journey  of  Xerxes  was  not  a  flight  is  apparent  from 
the  fact  that  the  troops  which  had  accompanied  him  to  the 
Hellespont  not  only  returned  to  Thessaly,  where  they  rejoined 
Mardonius,  but  also  during  their  return  march  undertook, 
under  the  command  of  Artabazus,  the  reduction  of  the  cities 
of  Olynthus  and  Potidaea.  Olynthus  was  captured  and  all 
the  inhabitants  were  "  led  out  to  a  marsh  and  put  to  death." 
Potidaea  stood  a  siege,  and  treason,  for  three  months,  and 
ultimately  many  of  the  besieging  Persians  were  caught  by  a 
spring- tide  or  bore  and,  "  not  being  able  to  swim,  perished 
immediately."  "  The  Potidaeans  say,"  remarks  Herodotus, 
"  that  what  caused  this  spring- tide  was  the  profanation  by 
these  very  men  of  a  temple  and  image  of  Poseidon.  And  in 
this  they  seem  to  me  to  say  well." 

Mardonius  now  sent  as  envoy  to  Athens  the  king  of  Mace-^ 
donia,  Alexander  I,  who  had  ties  both  with  the  Athenians  and 
with  Persia.     In  the  name  of  the  Great  King  forgiveness  and 
friendship  were  offered.  But  the  Athenians  answered  :  "  So  long 
as  the  sun  keeps  his  present  course  we  will  never  join  alliance 

1  Cleombrotus,  in  command  at  the  Isthmus,  had  intended  to  follow  up  the 
retreating  Persian  land  forces,  but  had  been  stopped  by — an  eclipse  !  This 
happened,  they  say,  at  2  p.m.  on  October  2,  480. 

268 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

with  Xerxes"  ;  and  to  the  I^acedaemonians,  who  had  hastily 
sent  an  embassy  to  oppose  Alexander,  they  declared  :  "  Not 
all  the  gold  that  the  whole  earth  contains  would  bribe  us  to 
take  part  with  the  Medes.  .  .  .  First,  there  is  the  burning  and 
destruction  of  our  temples  and  the  images  of  our  gods.  .  .  . 
Then  there  is  our  common  brotherhood  with  the  Greeks,  our 
common  language,  the  altars  and  sacrifices  at  which  we  all  par- 
take, the  common  character  that  we  bear.  Did  the  Athenians 
betray  all  these,  of  a  truth  it  would  not  be  well.  While  one 
Athenian  remains  alive  we  will  never  join  alliance  with  Xerxes.'* 
Mardonius  therefore,  though  the  Thebans  advised  him  to  stay 
in  Thessaly  and  send  gold  to  the  leaders  of  the  Greeks,  marched 
down  upon  Athens.  ''  But  on  his  arrival  he  did  not  find  the 
Athenians.  They  had  again  withdrawn,  some  to  their  ships, 
the  greater  number  to  Salamis.  So  he  only  gained  possession 
of  an  empty  city."  This  was  in  July  479.  The  reason  why 
the  Athenians  had  again  withdrawn  was  because  the  Spartans 
had  refused  to  leave  their  Isthmian  wall  and  march  north  to 
help  in  opposing  Mardonius,  alleging  in  excuse  (as  so  often  they 
had  done)  a  religious  festival — this  time  the  '  Hyacinthia.' 
Mean  and  selfish  as  such  conduct  appears,  especially  in  contrast 
to  that  of  the  Athenians,  it  was  soon  to  be  proved  once  more 
that  when  face  to  face  with  the  foe  they  possessed  a  splendid 
courage.  To  them  was  mainly  due  the  great  victory  of  Plat^fi^ 
which  for  ever  liberated  Greece  from  the  Persian  invader. 

The  Athenians,  dispossessed  of  their  city,  though  they  had 
for  a  second  time  rejected  with  disdain  the  proposals  of  Mar- 
donius, sent  word  to  the  Spartan  regent  Pausanias  (Cleom- 
brotus  having  died  soon  after  the  eclipse)  that  they,  and  also 
Megara  and  Plataea,  would  be  forced  to  surrender  to  the  Mede 
unless  the  I^acedaemonians  would  help  them.  Hereupon 
5000  Spartiats  were  ordered  to  start  northwards  under  tli£_ 
command  of  Pausanias.  They  were  accompanied  by  many 
Helots  and  Perioeci  and  other  Peloponnesians,  and  joined 
iby  the  Athenians  under  the  command  of  Aristides,  so  that  the 
iwhole  army  may  have  numbered  70,000  men,  among  whom, 
ccording  to  Herodotus,  there  were  38,700  hoplites. 
I  ^^9 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Mardonius,  when  he  heard  of  this  army,  resolved  to  with- 
draw to  Thebes,  as  Attica  was  too  hilly  for  his  cavalry  and 
there  was  *'  no  way  of  escape  from  the  country  except  through 
defiles/'  Before  leaving  Athens  he  completed  as  far  as  possible 
the  destruction  of  the  city  and  its  temples,  leaving  the 
Acropolis  a  waste  of  ruins.  His  army,  says  Herodotus,  num- 
bered about  300,000  and  perhaps  50,000  Greek  auxiliaries. 
About  six  miles  to  the  south  of  Thebes  he  built  a  huge  fort, 
"  a  square  of  about  ten  furlongs  each  way,"  with  ramparts  and 
towers  formed  of  trees  that  he  cut  down  in  all  directions.  His 
army  he  encamped  along  the  Asopus,  which  flows  through  the 
plain  between  Thebes  and  the  great  range  of  Cithaeron,  the 
boundary  between  Boeotia  and  Attica.  Here,  with  his  rear 
covered  by  the  Thebans,  he  awaited  Pausanias,  who  crossed 
into  Boeotia,  and,  finding  the  enemy  blocking  the  way,  disposed 
his  forces  on  the  north  slopes  of  Cithaeron.  For  ten  days  th^ 
armies  faced  one  another.  The  Greeks  were  much  harassed 
by  the  cavalry,  having  themselves  no  horse  ;  but  in  the  skir- 
mishes the  leader  of  the  Persian  horsemen,  Masistius,  a  splendid 
warrior  with  golden  breastplate,  was  slain ;  whereupon  the 
Persians  "  made  great  lamentation,  shaving  all  the  hair  from 
their  heads  and  cutting  the  manes  from  their  war-horses  and 
sumpter-beasts,  while  they  vented  their  grief  in  cries  so  loud 
that  all  Boeotia  resounded  with  the  clamour."  Day  by  day 
the  numbers  of  the  Greeks  increased,  but  so  great  was  the 
self-confidence  of  the  barbarians  that  Artabazus  advised 
Mardonius  merely  to  wait,  as  the  Greeks  would  never  venture 
down  into  the  plain,  and  to  harass  them  and  cut  off  their 
supplies  and  ply  the  leaders  with  bribes.  The  Persian  horse 
did  indeed  cut  off  their  communications  by  occupying  the 
passes  in  their  rear,  and  succeeded  in  reaching  and  choking 
up  the  fountain  Gargaphia  on  which  they  relied  for  water. 
But  Mardonius  was  impatient  for  a  battle,  and  decided  to 
attack,  and,  according  to  Herodotus,  the  news  of  this  decision 
was  brought  to  the  Greek  outposts  by  the  Macedonian  king 
Alexander. 

The  battle  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  *  reconstruct.'     I  shall 
270 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

not  attempt  to  describe,  far  less  to  explain,  all  the  false  moves, 
the  blunders,  and  the  unobeyed  orders  that  have  complicated 
the  question.  The  chief  facts  seem  to  have  been  that  the 
Athenians,  after  accepting  the  proposal  of  Pausanias  that  they 
should  oppose  the  Immortals  and  Persian  picked  troops,  were 
ordered  to  fight  the  Thebans  and  other  renegade  Greeks,  and 
that  when  the  decisive  moment  came  they  were  held  in  check 
by  their  opponents  and  were  unable  to  take  any  great  part  in  the 
actual  rout  of  the  barbarians.  This  rout  was  effected  mainly 
by  the  I^acedaemonians  and  Tegeans.  After  faUing  back  and 
being  followed  up  byjthe._main  body  of  the  Persians,  4:hey 
halted  for  some  time—losing  many  men  by  the  arrows  of  the 
foe,  shot  from  behind  the  line  of  wicker  shields,  while  they 
sacrificed  and  calmly  waited  for  favourable  omens — and  then, 
the  omens  allowing  it,  they  swept  forward,  broke  through  the 
array  of  wicker  shields,  and  put  the  whole  host  of  the  enemy 
to  flight.  "  The  barbarians  many  times  seized  hold  of  the 
Greek  spears  and  broke  them ;  for  in  boldness  and  warlike 
spirit  they  were  nowise  inferior  to  the  Greeks,  but  they  were 
without  real  shields,  and  far  below  their  opponents  in  skill 
with  weapons.  .  .  .  The  fight  was  hardest  where  Mardonius, 
mounted  on  a  white  horse  and  surrounded  by  the  bravest  of 
the  Persians,  the  Ten  Thousand,  fought.  So  long  as  he  was 
alive  these  troops  resisted,  but  when  he  fell,^  and  those  with 
him,  all  the  others  took  to  flight.''  Artabazus,  seeing  how 
the  day  was  going,  wheeled  off  with  40,000  men  and  made  his 
'  way  northwards.  The  Thebans,  after  fighting  with  desperate 
B  fury  and  losing  300  men,  retreated  to  their  city.  Most  of  the 
'■routed  Persian  army  fled  for  refuge  to  their  wooden  rampart, 
closely  followed  by  the  Spartans,  who,  however,  being  unskilled 
in  siege  operations,  had  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  Athenians 
before  they  were  able  to  take  the  fortification. ^  A  terrible 
f  massacre  ensued.  Only  3000  are  said  to  have  survived  out 
I  of  the  immense  host ;   but  possibly  many  escaped  and  joined 

1  His  body  was  treated  with  respect  by  Pausanias,  but  was  stolen. 

2  Cf.  Thuc.  i.  102.  The  Spartan  city  itself  was  without  walls.  The  Spartans 
'despised  and  hated  such  defences,  as  is  seen  from  their  bitter  opposition  to 

the  building  of  the  Athenian  lyong  Walls. 

271 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Artabazus,  who  with  great  difficulty  reached  Byzantium  and 
crossed  to  Asia.  The  spoil  was  enormous/  and  during  many 
years  afterwards  the  Plataeans  used  to  find  treasures  of  gold 
and  silver  on  the  battlefield.  The  loss  of  the  Spartans  is  given 
by  Herodotus  at  91,  of  the  Tegeans  at  16,  and  of  the  Athenians 
at  52  (though  Plutarch  states  the  whole  loss,  probably  including 
Helots,  at  1360) .  It  would  therefore  seem  that,  in  spite  of 
the  fierce  depreciation  to  which  their  conduct  in  the  battle 
has  been  subjected  by  some  writers,  the  Athenians  had  a 
certain  amount  of  fighting.  Of  the  Corinthians  and  Megarians 
Herodotus  says  that  they  were  drawn  up  at  some  distance  and 
did  not  know  that  a  battle  was  being  fought !  At  last  they 
learnt  the  fact  and  rushed  forward,  but  were  cut  to  pieces  by 
the  Theban  cavalry.  The  Spartans  were  given  the  chief  credit 
for  the  victory.  "  The  Athenians,"  says  Herodotus,  "  and 
the  Tegeans  fought  well,  but  the  prowess  shown  by  the  I^acedae- 
monians  was  beyond  either."  Pindar  gives  Sparta  the  chief 
praise.  Aeschylus,  too,  attributes  the  victory  to  the  '  Doric 
spear.'  A  tenth  of  the  booty  was  set  aside  for  the  Delphic 
treasury,  and  colossal  bronze  images  of  Zeus  and  Poseidon 
were  erected  at  Olympia  and  the  Isthmus  respectivel)^  At 
Delphi  was  dedicated,  says  Herodotus,  "  the  golden  tripod 
which  stands  on  the  bronze  serpent  with  three  heads  close  to 
the  altar."  On  the  base  of  the  supporting  pillar,  formed  of 
three  serpents,  were  inscribed  the  names  of  the  Greek  states 
which  had  joined  to  repel  the  Persian  invader.  This  base  is 
still  to  be  seen  in  the  Hippodrome  at  Constantinople,  whither 
it  was  removed  by  Constantine  the  Great.  ^ 

The  battle  of  Plataea  was  fought  probably  on  August  12,  479. 
"  On  the  same  day,"  says  Herodotus,  "  another  defeat  befell 
the  Persians  at  Mycale,  in  Ionia."  The  Greek  fleet  had  started 
in  the  spring  to  aid  the  lonians,  who  had  entreated  their  help 

^  The  throne  and  scimitar  of  Mardonius  and  the  golden  breastplate  of 
Masistius  were  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Athenian  Acropolis  in  the  time  of 
Pausanias,  600  years  later. 

^  Discovered  in  1880,  when  Constantinople  was  occupied  by  the  Western 
Powers.  Mahommed  II,  on  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  smashed 
the  jaw  of  one  of  the  serpents  with  his  battle-axe  (Gibbon,  ch.  68).     See  p.  284. 

272 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

against  the  Persians.  But  it  had  got  no  further  than  Delos, 
for  "  all  beyond  that  seemed  to  the  Greeks  full  of  danger  and>^ 
swarming  with  Persian  troops.'*  For  some  months  it  lay  idle 
at  Delos.  But  on  the  urgent  appeal  of  the  Samians  the  Spartan 
king  lycotychidas,  induced  by  favourable  omens  (especially 
by  the  lucky-sounding  name  of  the  Samian  envoy),  decided 
to  attack  the  Persian  fleet,  which  lay  in  the  lee  of  Samos. 
When  the  Greeks  reached  the  Samian  coast  near  the^reat 
temple  of  Hera,  the  Persians,  who  shrank  from  a  naval  battle, 
dismissed  all  their  Phoenician  vessels  and  stranded  the  rest 
on  Cape  Mycale,  where  they  had  a  land  force  of  60,000  men 
under  the  command  of  Tigranes.  The  Greeks  disembarked 
and  after  a  desperate  fight  carried  the  ramparts  of  the  naval 
camp  and  burned  the  ships,  the  Athenians  especially  distin- 
guishing themselves,  and  the  victory  being  rendered  more 
easy  by  the  wholesale  desertion  of  the  Ionian  auxiliaries  of 
the  enemy.  According  to  Herodotus,  the  news  of  the  victory 
at  Plataea,  which  had  been  gained  on  the  very  same  forenoon, 
arrived  in  time  to  cheer  the  Greeks  while  advancing  to  the 
fight.  This  is,  of  course,  rejected  as  a  fable  by  many  writers. 
Possibly  fire-signals  (if  visible  by  day)  may  be  the  explanation. 
If  not,  perhaps  it  may  have  been  one  of  those  cases  in  which 
the  knowledge  of  an  event  seems  to  have  been  transmitted 
over  great  distances  by  some  unexplained  agency — such  as 
the  Greeks  named  '  divine  rumour  '  ((pmv,  ocrcra). 

The  Greek  fleet  then  sailed  to  the  Hellespont,  but  when  they 

;  found   Xerxes'   bridge   destroyed   the- Spartans  went  home. 

'The  Athenians,   however,   laid  siege  to  Sestos,   still  in  the 

possession  of  the  Persians,  and  late  in  the  autumn  of  478  they 

succeeded  in  capturing  it.     "  This  done,  they  sailed  back  to 

Greece,  carrying  with  them,  besides  other  treasures,  the  shore 

fcables  from  the  bridge  of  Xerxes,  which  they  wished  to  dedicate 

|in  their  temples."  ^   These  are,  all  but  a  few  lines,  the  last  words 

ipf  the  history  of  Herodotus. 

^  One  is  forcibly  reminded  of  the  chain  cables  still  to  be  seen  hanging  in 
!the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa. 

8  273 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

SECTION  A :    THE  GREEKS  AND  CARTHAGINIANS 
IN  SICILY  (500-478) 

While  Greece  was  fighting  for  her  existence  against  the 
Persian  invader  the  Greeks  in  Western  Hellas  were  also 
struggling  against  an  Asiatic  race — the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Phoenician  colony  of  Carthage.  It  seems,  indeed,  probable 
that  Carthage  and  Persia  were  acting  in  concert. 

We  have  already  noted  the  rise  of  the  Greek  colonies  in 
Sicily  and  Southern  Italy.  During  the  first  period  of  their  exist- 
ence the  Phoenician  settlements  in  Sicily  gave  them  little  or 
no  trouble,  but  these  offered  a  valuable  base  to  the  navies  of 
the  rapidly  growing  Carthaginian  state,  which,  in  alliance  with 
the  powerful  and  piratical  princes  of  Etruria,  began  to  gain 
supremacy  in  the  Western  Mediterranean,  and  almost  annihi- 
lated, as  we  have  seen,  the  Phocaean  fleet  at  the  battle  of 
Alalia,  off  the  coast  of  Corsica  {c.  535) .  Carthage  now  domi- 
nated Sardinia  and  Corsica,  and  intended  to  dominate  Sicily. 
Indeed,  as  early  as  about  565  a  Carthaginian  army,  commanded 
by  Malchus,  had  landed  in  Sicily,  and  seems  to  have  won  a 
battle  against  the  tyrant  Phalaris  of  Acragas.  But  it  was  not 
till  the  era  of  Xerxes  that  the  Carthaginians  made  a  serious 
effort  to  wrest  the  island  from  the  Greeks.  Meanwhile  Hellenic 
civilization  and  power  in  Greater  Greece,  in  spite  of  devastating 
intestine  wars  and  such  disasters  as  the  annihilation  of  Sybaris 
by  Croton,  had  reached  a  very  high  stage  of  development. 
The  chief  cities  of  Sicily  had  fallen  into  the  power  of  despots. 
In  the  north  Himera  was  ruled  by  Terillus.  In  the  south  and 
east  Acragas  (Agrigentum)  and  Syracuse  ^  were  ruled  by  Thero 

1  For  reference  the  following  may  be  useful :  Syracuse  founded  by  Dorians 
734  ;  under  aristocracies  and  democracies  till  the  despots  Gelo  (485),  Hiero 
(478),  Thrasybulus""(467)  ;  then  democracy  ;  besieged  by  Athenians  413  ; 
democracy  overthrown  by  Dionysius  (406-367),  whose  son,  Dionysius  the 
Younger,  was  finally  dethroned  by  Timoleon  in  343.  In  passing  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  Sicily  for  some  3000  years  (perhaps  for  much  longer)  has  been 
the  arena  of  racial  strife.  One  need  only  mention  the  following  names  to 
recall  such  conflicts  :  Sicals,  Sicanians,  Elymi,  Phoenicians,  Greeks,  Cartha- 
ginians, Romans,  Franks,  Odoacer,  Bast  Goths,  Byzantines,  Arabs,  Normans, 
Germans,  French,  Aragon  princes.  Bourbons. 

274 


73-  Tomb  of  Darius 


74.    ChARIOTIvIvR  found  at    DEIvPHI 


Themistokles,ofthe  Deme' 
Phrearroi. 


m 


Xaav  6  L  7T  n  o  <^ 'A£(^  L(|)  (>  o  V  o  ^ 

XanTHIPPOS  SONOF 

Arriphron. 


75.    OSTRAKA   OF   ThEMISTOCI,ES   AND    XANTIIIPPUS 


274 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

and  his  son-in-law  Gelo,  and  attained  very  great  prosperity 
and  power  under  these  despots.  Gelo,  originally  a  general  of 
Hippocrates,  tyrant  of  Gela,  had  succeeded  to  the  lordship 
of  that  city,  and  when  appealed  to  by  the  exiled  Syracusan 
Gamori  (landed  nobility)  had  reinstated  them  and  at  the  same 
time  seized  the  power  also  in  Syracuse.  He  gave  over  the 
tyranny  of  Gela  to  his  brother  Hiero,  and  as  ruler  of  Syracuse 
adorned  the  city  with  many  fine  buildings  and  with  magnificent 
docks  and  raised  her  to  the  rank  of  a  great  naval  power,  while  he 
increased  her  wealth  and  her  population  greatly  by  transferring 
thither  many  of  the  richer  inhabitants  of  captured  Camarina 
and  Hyblaean  Megara — the  poorer  being  sold  into  foreign 
slavery  ;  for  he  "  regarded  the  demos,**  says  Herodotus,  "  as 
a  most  unpleasant  neighbour."  While  Gelo  and  his  brothers, 
Hiero,  Polyzalus,  and  Thrasybulus,  kept  their  magnificent 
court  at  Syracuse,  the  city  of  Acragas,  though  not  yet  adorned 
with  its  splendid  temples,  ^  became  wealthy  and  powerful  under 
the  rule  of  Thero,  whose  daughter  Demarete  became  Gelo's 
wife  ;  and  when  Thero  quarrelled  with  Terillus  and  drove  him 
out  of  Himera,  and  Terillus  appealed  to  the  Carthaginians  for 
aid  (as  Hippias  appealed  to  the  Persians),  the  lords  of  Syracuse 
and  Acragas  combined  to  oppose  the  foreign  invader.  It  was 
at  this  moment  that  the  envoys  from  Greece  came  to  beg  Gelo 
for  assistance  against  Persia  ;  ^  and  it  can  cause  no  wonder  that 
he  was  unable  to  promise  it,  though  he  possessed  a  "far  larger 
eet  and  army  "  than  any  other  Greek  state.  The  Cartha- 
inians,  about  300,000  men  under  Hamilcar,  landed  at  Panor- 
us  (Palermo)  and  besieged  Thero  in  Himera.  Gelo  hastened 
his  relief,  and  by  a  ruse  gained  entrance  to  Hamilcar' s  naval 
mp.  Then,  profiting  by  the  confusion,  he  assailed  the  land 
mp  also.  The  struggle  was  fierce  and  long,  but  the  victory 
mplete.  Half  the  Punic  army  was  massacred  ;  the  rest 
ere  enslaved.    Only  one  single  vessel,  we  are  told  by  Diodorus, 

^  Built  by  slave  labour  after  the  battle  of  Himera.  See  Note  A  (5). 

2  See  p.  256.  Gelo  is  accused  by  Herodotus  of  having  sent  three  ships  to 
iielphi  under  the  command  of  a  certain  Cadmus,  who  took  with  him  "  a 

rge  sum  of  money  and  a  stock  of  friendly  words,  and  was  to  watch  and  see 
^hat  turn  the  Persian  war  might  take." 

27s 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
reached  Carthage.  A  fine  picture  is  given  by  Herodotus, 
which  is  well  worth  a  moment's  pause,  although  it  may  not 
represent  an  historical  fact ;  indeed,  Herodotus,  as  often,  gives 
the  thing  for  what  it  is  worth — and  it  is  worth  much  from  a 
standpoint  other  than  that  of  the  scientific  historian. 

"  After  the  battle  Hamilcar  disappeared.  Gelo  made  the 
strictest  search,  but  he  could  not  be  found,  dead  or  alive.  The 
Carthaginians,  who  take  probability  for  their  guide,  give  the 
following  account.  Hamilcar,  they  say,  during  all  the  time 
that  the  battle  raged,  which  was  from  dawn  till  evening, 
remained  in  the  camp  [near  the  shore]  sacrificing  and  seeking 
favourable  omens,  while  he  burned  on  a  huge  pyre  the  entire 
bodies  of  victims.  Here,  as  he  poured  libations  on  the  sacri- 
fices, he  saw  the  rout  of  his  army  ;  whereupon  he  cast  himself 
headlong  into  the  flames,  and  so  was  consumed  and  disappeared. 
Whether  it  happened  in  this  way  or  not,  certain  it  is  that  the 
Carthaginians  offer  him  sacrifice."  The  oft-repeated  assertion 
of  old  writers  that  the  leaders  of  armies,  both  Greek  and  Roman, 
would  refuse  to  give  battle  without  obtaining  favourable 
omens  ^  often  gives  one  pause.  Here  is  the  case  of  the 
commander  of  a  Carthaginian  ^  arm}'-  absenting  himself  all  day 
from  an  important  battle  for  such  purposes. 

The  battles  of  Himera  and  Salamis  (as  those  of  Mycale 
and  Plataea)  were  believed  to  have  been  fought  on  the 
same  day  (September  20,  480).  It  is,  of  course,  possible  that 
this  was  not  so ;  but  there  is  little  to  be  gained  by  doubt- 
ing it.  From,  the  spoil  a  large  present  was  made  by  the  Syra- 
cusans  to  Demarete,  the  wife  of  Gelo.  The  silver  coins,  called 
Demareteia,  struck  on  this  occasion,  some  of  which  still  exist, 
are  exceedingly  beautiful  (see  coin  6,  Plate  IV).  At  Himera 
exist  the  remains  of  a  temple  near  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
It  may  have  been  the  very  temple  before  which  Hamilcar 
offered  sacrifice  to  Poseidon. 

Gelo  died  in  478,  the  year  of  the  capture  of  Sestos  by  the 

*  The  well-known  exception  of  P.  Claudius  and  the  refractory  chickens 
was  followed  by  a  crushing  defeat ! 

2  Hamilcar  is  said  to  have  been  Greek  from  his  mother's  side,  and  at 
Himera  to  have  sacrificed,  not  to  Phoenician  deities,  but  to  Poseidon. 

276 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

Athenians,  the  last  event  recorded  by  Herodotus.     The  reign 
of  his  brother  Hiero  therefore  really  belongs  to  our  next  period  ; 
but  it  may  be  better  to  anticipate  a  little  for  the  sake  of  con- 
tinuity.    During  the  twelve  years  of  his  reign  Syracuse  was 
probably  the  most  notable  city  of  the  Hellenic  world,  both 
for  its  power  and  for  its  patronage  of  the  fine  arts.     At  the 
court  of  Hiero  and  at  that  of  Thero  of  Acragas  we  find  Simo- 
nides,  Bacchylides,  Pindar,  and  Aeschylus.     The  victories  of 
Hiero  and  others  of  the  Sicilian  princes  at  the  Olympic  and 
Pythian  chariot-races  were  celebrated  by  the  first  poets  of  the 
day.     The  exact  dates  of  some  of  these  victories  (extending 
from  482  to  472)  have  been  lately  ascertained  by  means  of 
papyrus  manuscripts  discovered  in  Egypt ;  and  at  Delphi  not 
many  years  ago  was  excavated  the  famous  bronze  statue  of  the 
charioteer  (Fig.  74)  dedicated  by  Hiero's  brother  Polyzalus, 
evidently  as  a  thanksgiving  for  victory.     Beneath  all  this 
iisplay  there  was  doubtless  much  to  disgust — much  tyranny 
md  inhumanity,  1  much  insolent,   if   magnificent,   patronage 
)f  genius.     Of  all  this  there  are  evidences  not  only  in  recorded 
,cts  of  barbarity,  but  even  in  hints  dropped  by  Pindar  himself, 
spite  of  his  evident  admiration  of  the  feudal  pomp  of  the 
yracusan  court.     One  feat  performed  by  Hiero  justly  earned 
gratitude  of  Hellas.     The  people  of  the  Greek  city  of 
ae,  or  Cyme,  in  Italy  (see  p.  117),  were  hard  pressed  by  the 
scans — the   same   Btruscans,    or  Tyrseni,   whose   pirate- 
t  had  rendered  so  much  aid  to  the  Carthaginians,  the  same 
pie  who  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Tarquins  and  had, 
der  their  king,  I^ars  Porsena,  besieged  Rome  some  thirty 
ars  before.     Hiero  sent  his  fleet  and  inflicted  a  crushing 
efeat  on  the  Etruscans.     Of  this  victory  we  possess  a  most 
^iteresting  memorial   (Fig.   "jf) — a    bronze  Etruscan  helmet, 
i*und  (1817)  at  Olympia.     Its  inscription  says  :    *'  Hiero  and 
'le    Syracusans     [dedicate]   to  Zeus  Tyrrhenian  spoil    from 
yme."     In  the  splendid  ode  that  Pindar  wrote  to  celebrate, 
[imarily,   the  victory  which  Hiero's  horses  gained   at  the 

I  Sinister  stories  are  told  of  Hiero's  conduct  towards  Polyzalus,  who  had 
irried  Demarete. 

277 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
Pythian  Games  in  the  same  year  (474)  he  also  alludes  to  the 
victory  of  Cyme,  and  prays  Zeus  that  "  the  Phoenician  and 
the  war-cry  of  the  Tyrseni  may  remain  in  peace  at  home, 
having  seen  the  grievous  ruin  of  their  ships  before  Cyme." 

In  472  Thero  of  Acragas  died.  His  son  quarrelled  with 
Hiero  and  was  overthrown,  and  Acragas  became  a  free  republic. 
Not  long  after  Hiero' s  death  in  467  his  brother  Thrasybulus, 
who  succeeded  him,  was  expelled  on  account  of  his  cruelty 
and  avarice,  and  Syracuse  also  became  free.  Its  further 
connexion  with  Greece  will  occupy  our  attention  when  we 
come  to  the  ill-fated  Sicilian  expedition  of  the  Athenians  and 
to  the  visits  of  Plato  to  the  court  of  Dionysius. 

SECTION  B :    PINDAR  (522-442) 

Pindar  and  Aeschylus  were  contemporaries,  but  the  plays 
of  Aeschylus  are  perhaps  better  considered  in  connexion 
with  those  of  the  other  Attic  dramatists,  whereas  Pindar, 
both  in  feeling  and  in  form,  belongs  to  a  different  school. 
Although  it  is  full  of  wise  saws  and  pious  sentiments,  and 
parades  with  great  pomp  and  solemnity  the  dogmas  and 
legends  of  the  popular  religion,  the  poetry  of  Pindar — such  at 
least  as  we  possess — is  for  the  most  part  a  majestically  magnilo- 
quent glorification  of  wealth  and  high  birth  and  success ; 
while  Aeschylus,  though  for  a  time  he  enjoyed,  as  did  Pindar, 
the  regal  patronage  of  the  Syracusan  court,  moved  in  quite 
another,  and  a  far  higher,  world  of  thought  and  feeling,  and  in 
his  dramas  pictured,  in  language  of  still  more  superb  audacity 
and  with  a  far  sublimer  imagination,  the  wrestlings  of  the 
human  soul  against  the  mysterious  decrees  of  Fate. 

Pindar  was  born  at  or  near  Thebes  about  522.  He  studied  at 
Athens,  and  when  still  a  youth  of  sixteen  composed  dithyrambs 
for  public  festivals.  On  his  return  he  came  under  the  influence 
of  the  Theban  poetess  Corinna,  some  fragments  of  whose  lyrics 
have  been  discovered  in  a  papyrus  manuscript.  She  advised 
him  to  introduce  mythology  into  his  poetry.  The  result  was  i 
a  hymn  written  for  the  Thebans,  twelve  lines  of  which  are  | 
278 


76.  Tempi;e  of  '  Concordia 


: 


77.     '  HiERO'S   HEI.MET 


278 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

extant.     In  these  twelve  short  lines  there  are  twelve  different 
proper   names   and   sixteen   epithets,    mostly   long   made-up 
words.     This  hymn  is  said  to  have  introduced  every  mytho- 
logical character  connected  with  Thebes.     No  wonder  that 
Corinna's  criticism  was,  ''  One  should  sow  with  the  hand  and 
not  with  the  whole  sack."     He  seems  soon  to  have  become 
noted  as  a  poet.    The  earliest  of  his  epinikia  ('  songs  of  victory  ') , 
all  of  which  we  probably  possess,  was  written  in  502.     It  was  in 
honour  of  a  Thessalian  youth  who  had  won  the  foot-race  at  the 
Pythian  Games,  and  it  extols  the  Aleuadae  (Pyth.  x.) .  But  Pindar 
did  not  share  the  Medizing  propensities  of  these  princes.     He 
belonged  to  the  small  minority  at  Thebes  which  sympathized 
strongly  with  the  victors  at  Marathon  and  Salamis  and  Plataea. 
Indeed,  it  is  said  that  (perhaps  later  in  life)  in  consequence 
of  his  praises  of  Athens  (XiTrapai  .  .  .  KXeival  'AOavai)  he  was 
severely  fined  by  his  fellow-citizens,  and  that  the  Athenians 
made  him  their  pubHc  guest  (Tr/ooSej/o?)   and  paid  him  twice 
the  sum   and  erected  a  bronze  statue  to  him.     His  poetry 
was  greatly  admired  by  Alexander  I  of  Macedonia  ^ — who, 
as  we  have  seen,  submitted  to  Persia,  but  was  Greek  at  heart — 
and  also  by  Thero  of  Acragas  and  Hiero  of  Syracuse,  for  both 
of  whom  he  wrote  numerous  enkomia  (panegyrics)  and  epinikia. 
In  473,  a  year  after  the  great  victory  of  Hiero  at  Cyme,  Pindar 
went  to  Sicily,  where  he  lived  for  about  four  years.     Here  he 
may  have  met  Aeschylus  (who,  however,  probably  went  there 
first   in  468),  and  certainly  met  Simonides  (who  died  c.  468) 
and  the  nephew  of  Simonides,   the  lyric  poet  Bacchylides, 
who  was  also  employed  by  Hiero  to  celebrate  his  victories  at 
the  games. 2     In  468  Pindar  was  again  in  Thebes,  whence  he 
sent  a  fine  ode  [01.  vi.)  to  Syracuse.     Hiero  was  at  this  time 
suffering  from  a  serious  disease,  and  in  467  he  died.     In  the 
next  year  Pindar  wrote  two  of  his  finest  odes  (Pyth.  iv.  and  v.) 

1  As  lovers  of  Milton's  sonnets  know,  Pindar's  house  was  consequently 
spared  by  Alexander  the  Great  (as  it  had  been  already  by  the  Spartans). 

2  Bacchylides  was  regarded  by  some  ancient  writers  as  a  formidable  rival 
of  Pindar,  but  fifteen  of  his  poems  discovered  lately  among  Egyptian  papyrus 
manuscripts  seem  to  prove  that,  though  he  possessed  elegance  and  taste,  he 
was  a  poet  of  no  high  order. 

279 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

for  Arcesilaus  IV,  king  of  Cyrene — a  descendant  of  Battus 
(see  p.  145) — and  it  is  just  possible  that  the  poet  visited  Cyrene 
and  also  Rhodes.  In  460  he  wrote  one  of  his  epinikia,  and 
another  in  452,  at  Olympia.  His  last  poem  was  a  hymn  to 
Persephone,  of  which  three  words  are  extant.  He  is  said  to 
have  died  at  Argos,  in  the  theatre. 

There  were  seventeen  volumes  of  Pindar's  poems — hymns, 
paeans,  dithyrambs,  dirges,  enkomia,  epinikia,  and  others. 
Besides  about  150  fragments  of  other  poems,  we  possess,  prob- 
ably complete,  the  forty-four  epinikia,  or  odes  of  triumph, 
which  were  written  in  honour  of  victors  at  the  gamCvS — 
Olympic,  Pythian,  Nemean,  and  Isthmian — and  were  recited 
at  banquets  or  festive  processions  {kcojuloi).  The  earliest 
(P.  X.)  has  been  mentioned.  Another  early  one  {P.  vii.)  is  in 
honour  of  an  Athenian,  Megacles,  perhaps  a  son  of  the  reformer 
Cleisthenes,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  ode,  as  also 
the  only  other  written  for  an  Athenian  {NAi.),  is  remarkably 
short,  and  that  there  is  a  good  deal  said  about  avoiding  envy. 
The  date  is  that  of  the  battle  of  Marathon,  and  Megacles 
had  already  been  twice  ostracized — so,  what  with  the  Medizing 
tendency  of  the  Thebans  and  the  democratic  dislike  of  hero- 
worship  at  Athens,  we  cannot  wonder  at  Pindar's  brevity  and 
sage  advice.  Exceedingly  Gne  and  historically  the  most  interest- 
ing are  the  numerous  epinikia  composed  for  Thero  and  Hiero — 
'  King  of  Syracuse,'  as  the  poet  calls  him,  using  a  title  that 
Hiero  assumed  about  478.  In  one  of  these  (P.  i.)  Pindar  cele- 
brates the  victory  gained  by  Hiero' s  chariot  horses  (or  perhaps 
by  his  celebrated  racer  Pherenikus)  at  the  Pythian  Games  in 
474,  and  alludes  (as  we  have  already  seen)  to  the  still  more 
important  victory  won  at  Cyme  in  the  same  year,  and  also 
to  the  battles  of  Salamis  and  Plataea  and  Himera.  "  I  will 
claim  a  reward,"  he  says,  "  from  Salamis  for  the  sake  of  the 
Athenians,  and  at  Sparta  I  will  tell  of  the  fight  before 
Cithaeron  where  the  Medes  with  their  crooked  bows  were 
smitten,  and  by  the  well-watered  banks  of  the  Himera  I  will 
pay  the  sons  of  Deinomenes  [Hiero  and  his  brothers]  the  hymn 
that  is  their  due  for  deeds  of  valour."  Fourteen  of  the  odes  are 
280 


THE    PERSIAN    INVASIONS 

for  Sicilian  victors,  and  not  a  few  are  in  honour  of  Aeginetans, 
for  whom  Pindar  seems  to  have  had  a  special  partiality.  In 
a  series  of  six  of  his  '  Nemeans '  he  extols  the  Aeacidae,  and 
contrasts  the  noble  character  of  Ajax  with  that  of  Odysseus, 
of  whom  he  says :  "  I  deem  that  his  fame  became  greater  than 
his  deeds  and  sufferings  through  the  sweet  singer  Homer." 

The  metre  of  the  Pindaric  odes  seems  at  first  sight — as  it 
seemed  to  Horace — to  be  quite  arbitrary.  But,  although 
there  is  scarcely  any  resemblance  between  the  metres  of  the 
various  odes,  each  of  them  consists  of  parts  (strophes,  epodes, 
&c.)  in  which  the  same  or  a  similar  metre  recurs.  The 
rhythms  were  doubtless  based  on  the  kind  of  music  (Doric, 
Aeolic,  lyydian,  &c.)  to  which  the  poems  were  set.  Grandeur 
of  expression,  often  rising  to  sublimity  but  sometimes  sinking  to 
magniloquence,  is  the  striking  characteristic  of  Pindar's  poetry. 
Although  he  possesses  no  such  sublimity  of  imagination  ^  as 
Aeschylus,  or  Dante,  or  Milton,  the  onward  rush  of  thought, 
clothed  in  superb  language,  is  magnificent.  He  compares 
himself  to  an  eagle.  "  I  send  thee,"  he  says,  "  this  mingled 
draught  of  honey  and  white  milk — late  indeed  !  but  amidst 
the  birds  of  the  air  the  eagle  is  swift :  he  marketh  from  afar, 
and,  swooping  suddenly,  seizeth  with  his  talons  the  tawny  prey  ; 
but  cackHng  jackdaws  haunt  the  lower  ground."  Gray,  too, 
has  pictured  for  us  the  Theban  eagle  as 

Sailing  with  supreme  dominion 
Thro'  the  azure  deep  of  air ; 

and  Horace  in  one  of  his  finest  odes  has  likened  Pindar  to  a 
mighty  torrent,  and  to  a  wild  swan  winging  its  way  through 
the  realms  of  cloudland. 

Although  he  accepted  many  strange  myths  for  artistic 
purposes,  Pindar  protested  strongly,  as  Xenophanes  had  done, 
against  all  that  was  derogatory  of  the  dignity  of  the  gods. 
"It  is  seemly,"  he  says,  "for  a  man  to  speak  nobly  of  the 
deities."     And  although  for  artistic  purposes  he  makes  use 

^  The  finest  imaginative  picture  in  Pindar  is  perhaps  that  of  the  eagle  of 
Zeus  lulled  to  sleep  by  the  tones  of  Apollo's  golden  lyre  (P.  i.)-  The  paraphrase 
;   by  Gray  in  his  Progress  of  Poetry  does  it  very  poor  justice. 

28l 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
of  the  Olympian  gods,  in  most  cases  when  he  is  expressing 
his  own  beHefs  he  speaks  of  '  God '  as  Xenophanes  and  other 
sages,  and  indeed  Homer  himself,  had  done.  "  One  must  not 
strive  with  God,"  he  says,  "  who  now  exalte th  the  one  and 
now  giveth  great  glory  to  others/'  God,  he  tells  us,  "  o'ertakes 
the  eagle  in  its  flight  and  passeth  the  dolphin  in  the  sea." 
If  God  does  not  "  swiftly  put  forth  his  hand  to  the  helm  of 
the  state,  it  is  oft  no  easy  task  for  the  rulers  to  guide  it 
aright." 

He  is  full  of  wise,  if  rather  trite,  saws  and  maxims.  The  best 
of  them  is  perhaps  preserved  by  Herodotus  and  Plato  :  "  I^aw 
is  king  of  all."  Others  are  :  "  Future  days  are  wisest  witnesses  " 
(which  reminds  one  of  Solon) ;  "  Silence  is  oft  wisest  for  a  man  " ; 
*'  We  all  die  but  once."  His  wisdom  does  not  bear  the  impress 
of  deep  conviction  ;  it  is  purely  decorative — like  exquisite 
embroidery.  Not  a  few  dark  threads  of  melancholy  and 
embitterment  sometimes  traverse  the  web — due  perhaps  to 
the  rivalry  of  other  poets,  and  to  that  '  envy  '  of  which  he 
sometimes  sings — possibly  also  to  a  too  close  contact  with 
regal  wealth  and  luxury.  Pythagorean  and  Orphic  influences 
can  perhaps  be  traced  in  some  passages  where  he  speaks  of 
purification  and  initiation,  and  of  the  rewards  and  punishments 
in  a  future  life.  A  fine  picture  of  the  life  of  spirits  in  Elysium 
is  given  in  a  fragment  of  one  of  his  dirges,  reminding  one  of 
similar  pictures  by  Virgil  and  Dante  and  of  passages  in  Plato's 
Phaedo.  In  another  fragmentary  dirge  he  speaks  thus  of 
death  :  "  By  a  happy  destiny  all  travel  towards  a  bourne 
where  they  are  loosed  from  toil.  The  body,  indeed,  followeth 
almighty  Death,  but  still  alive  remaineth  a  shadowy  image 
of  vitality,  and  this  alone  is  of  origin  divine."  The  Orphic 
teachings  doubtless  were  associated  with  much  superstition 
and  priestcraft,  but,  together  with  Pythagorean  mysticism, 
they  helped  by  their  imaginative  parables  to  keep  alive  in 
the  hearts  of  many  the  beliefs  that  lie  at  the  root  of  all  true 
religion. 


zSz 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE   RISE   OF   THE   ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

(478-439) 

SECTIONS :  ARCHITBCTURK  AND  SCULPTURE  :  ABSCHYIvUS, 
HERODOTUS,   PHILOSOPHERS  OF  THE  PERIOD 

THE  capture  of  Sestos  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  last  event 
recorded  by  Herodotus  in  his  history  of  the  Persian 
invasions ;  but  Persia  continued  to  hold  important 
posts  in  Thrace,^  and,  although  after  Mycale  the  Ionian  and 
Aeolian  cities  regained  autonomy,  the  barbarian  was  still  at 
their  gates  ;  nor  was  it  unlikely  that  Xerxes  would  attempt 
to  revenge  himself  on  Greece  itself.  The  need  for  combined 
action  was  therefore  strongly  felt.  Hitherto  Sparta  had  been 
regarded  as  leader.  Although  the  victories  of  Marathon  and 
Salamis  had  been  due  mainly  to  Athens,  and  although  her 
ships  formed  the  bulk  of  the  Greek  fleet,  the  allies  had  hitherto 
refused  to  submit  to  Athenian  leadership,  and  the  supreme 
command  both  on  land  and  on  the  sea  had  been  held  by 
Spartans — by  Kurybiadas  at  Salamis,  by  Pausanias  at  Plataea, 
and  by  I^eotychidas  at  Mycale.  How  the  command  of  the 
allied  fleet  was  acquired  by  Athens,  and  how  she  made  herself 
the  head  of  a  great  anti-Persian  confederacy,  and  how  out  of 
this  leadership  (riyijULovia)  in  less  than  twenty  years  she  developed 
an  empire  (apxn)  which  extended  its  victories  even  to  Cyprus 
and  Egyptian  Memphis,  has  been  recounted  by  many  writers ; 
and  although  this  period  lies  between  those  described  in  detail 
by  Herodotus  and  by  Thucydides,  enough  is  told  by  both, 
especially  by  Thucydides,^  to  render  possible  a  fairly  satis- 
factory reconstruction. 

1  Doriscus  was  evidently  still  Persian  when  Herodotus  wrote  vii.  106-107. 

2  Thuc.  i.  89  sq.  and  the  speech  of  the  Athenians  in  i,  74.   Other  sources  are 
inscriptions,  Plutarch,  and  Nepos. 

283 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
But  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  follow  closely  the  evolution  of 
the  Athenian  Empire,  nor  the  varying  fortune  of  those  long- 
protracted  struggles  for  supremacy  which  often  fill  so  many 
pages  of  Greek  history  with  their  wearisome  and  ever-recur- 
ring details  of  battles  and  sieges  and  seditions  and  revolts 
and  butcheries.  Such  things,  it  is  true,  form  the  main  staple 
of  one  of  the  greatest  of  histories — that  of  Thucydides — but 
they  are  so  skilfully  interwoven,  now  with  the  brilliant 
rhetoric  and  the  intricate  arguments  of  fictitious  speeches, 
now  with  some  subtle  analysis  of  character  or  motive,  now 
with  some  trenchant  criticism  or  the  vivid  description  of  a 
beleaguered  town  or  plague-stricken  city  or  sickening  butchery, 
that  we  are  at  times  almost  persuaded  that  these  miserable 
squabbles  and  atrocities  are,  as  he  believed  them  to  be,  not 
only  more  worthy  of  record  than  what  Herodotus  calls  "  the 
great  and  wonderful  deeds  of  the  Greeks  and  barbarians  "  in  the 
Persian  wars,  but  even  of  more  consequence  to  posterity  than  all 
the  legacies  of  Greek  art,  Greek  poetry,  and  Greek  philosophy. 
A  "  possession  for  ever  "  doubtless  his  book  will  remain,  but 
not  by  reason  of  its  minute  record  of  events,  many  of  which 
have  no  longer  any  value  except  in  so  far  as  they  may  at 
times  give  us  a  fuller  view  of  the  dark  side  of  Greek  character. 
The  transfer  of  the  naval  command  from  Sparta  to  Athens 
happened  thus.  In  the  year  following  the  capture  of  Sestos 
(in  which  lycotychidas  and  the  Spartan  ships  had  taken  no 
part)  a  fleet  composed  mainly  of  Athenian  and  Ionian  vessels 
was  put  under  the  command  of  the  Spartan  Pausanias,  who 
as  the  victor  at  Plataea  enjoyed  great  popularity  in  spite  of 
his  overweening  arrogance.^  He  made  for  Cyprus  and  cleared 
the  island  of  the  Persians ;  then  he  sailed  to  Byzantium. 
Here  he  laid  himself  open  to  the  charge  of  Medism.  He  was 
accused    of    releasing    Persian    prisoners,    assuming    Median 

^  On  the  dedicated  tripod  (p.  272)  he  had  caused  onlj'-  his  own  name  to  be 
inscribed  as  the  conqueror  of  the  Mede.  The  Spartans  erased  the  distich  and 
engraved  the  names  of  the  cities  (Thuc.  i.  132).  This  doubtless  rankled  in  his 
mind,  and  (as  seen  in  Cleomenes)  the  peculiar  temperament  and  training  of 
the  Spartans  seem  to  have  induced  a  tendency  towards  unbridled  passion 
and  insanity. 

284 


78.  Group  of  Gods,  Parthenon  Frieze 


79.    The   *  SXRANGFORD  '    ShIEI^D 


284 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

habits  and  dress,  and  even  of  treasonable  correspondence  with 
the  Great  King/  and  was  recalled  to  Sparta.  The  Ionian 
allies  hereupon,  weary  of  arrogant  despotism,  begged  the 
Athenians  to  assume  the  command  of  the  fleet,  and  although 
another  admiral  (Dorkis)  was  sent  out  from  Sparta,  he  was 
not  recognized.  The  acquiescence  of  Sparta  seems  remarkable, 
but  was  probably  due  to  the  influence  of  the  military  caste 
of  the  old  school,  which  regarded  sea-power  as  an  illusion. 
To  this  influence  was  also  probably  due  a  raid  on  Thessaly 
made  about  this  time  (c.  476)  by  the  Spartans  under  their 
king  I^eotychidas,  who  landed  in  the  Gulf  of  Pagasae,  and 
might  perhaps  have  annexed  the  whole  of  Thessaly  unless 
he  had  proved  as  venal  as  many  of  his  compatriots.  He 
was  convicted  of  receiving  bribes  from  the  Persian-loving 
Aleuadae,  and  only  saved  his  life  by  seeking  sanctuary  at 
Tegea. 

Here  we  may  perhaps  glance  at  the  question  of  what 
Thucydides  calls  the  entirely  different  character  of  the 
Spartans  and  the  Athenians.  Many  of  these  differences 
have  been  noted  by  the  Attic  historian,  who  during  his  exile 
of  twenty  years  had  special  opportunities  for  studying  them, 
and  it  would  be  a  most  interesting,  if  exceedingly  difficult, 
task  to  collect  all  that  he  has  said  on  the  subject,  to  compare 
it  with  what  has  been  said  by  Herodotus  and  other  ancient 
writers,  and  to  see  how  far  it  is  borne  out  by  historical  facts. 

1  His  letter  to  Xerxes,  proposing  to  marry  his  daughter,  and  the  reply  of 
Xerxes,  are  given  by  Thucydides.  The  fate  of  Pausanias  may  be  best  related 
here,  so  as  to  avoid  discontinuity.  He  hired  a  private  trireme  and  returned 
to  Byzantium,  where  he  conducted  himself  like  a  Persian  magnate  and  was 
guilty  of  many  excesses.  He  even  got  possession  of  Sestos,  but  the  Athenians 
sent  Cimon  with  a  squadron  and  expelled  him.  Having  retired  to  Cleonae  in 
the  Troad,  he  renewed  his  intrigues  with  the  Persians  and  was  again  summoned 
to  Sparta,  where,  suspected  of  inciting  a  rising  among  the  Helots,  and  being 
also  convicted  by  a  ruse  (see  Thuc.  i.  133)  of  his  correspondence  with  Persia, 
he  fled  for  sanctuary  into  a  small  building  in  the  precinct  of  Athene  and 
was  walled  up  there  by  the  ephors  and  died  of  starvation  (471).  Although  he 
was  carried  out  of  the  sanctuary  while  still  breathing,  the  Delphic  oracle 
ordered  atonement  for  the  pollution  ;  and  this  '  pollution  '  was  urged  as  a 
charge  by  the  Athenians  when,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Peloponnesian  War, 
they  themselves  were  ordered  by  the  Spartans  to  cast  out  the  Alcmaeonid 
'  pollution  '  in  the  person  of  Pericles. 

285 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
From  various  passages — such  as  the  speech  of  the  Corinthians 
in  i.  70,  where  the  contrast  is  strongly  brought  out,  and  in 
i.  141,  where  Pericles  points  out  the  practical  advantages 
possessed  by  Athens,  and  his  great  speech  (iii.  39-40),  where 
he  delineates  the  main  features  of  Spartan  and  Athenian 
character — one  may  gain  a  fairly  clear  impression  of  his  finely 
drawn  distinctions,  but  to  restate  that  impression  in  any  other 
form,  especially  in  a  still  more  concise  form,  is  almost  im- 
possible. These  passages  should  be  studied.  In  passing  I 
can  but  oifer  a  few  epithets  such  as  may  perhaps  occur  to  the 
reader  of  Thucydides  as  roughly  intimating  his  judgments. 
The  Spartans  he  seems  to  regard  as  eminently  dilatory, 
enslaved  to  tradition  and  system,  unimaginative,  illiterate, 
boorish,  short-sighted  and  narrow  in  policy,  unenterprising, 
unideal,  incapable  of  foreseeing  difficulties,  cold-blooded,  tena- 
cious, heroically  but  stupidly  regardless  of  danger  and  death, 
and  incredibly  superstitious  and  venal.  The  character  of  the 
'  Athenians  he  seems  to  consider  a  rare  composite  of  the  prac- 
tical and  the  ideal :  they  are  at  once  "  most  enterprising  and 
most  prudent,''  "  lovers  of  the  beautiful  but  also  of  economy, 
lovers  of  learning  but  also  of  manliness,"  magnanimous  but 
severe  (alas!  we  might  add,  often  inhumanly  cruel),  generous 
but  exacting,  sanguine,  impulsive,  imaginative,  brilliant,  versa- 
tile, restless  but  capable  of  strenuous  and  protracted  effort, 
fascinating  but  false.  The  last  two  epithets  may  be  exemplified 
by  the  intense  affection  and  the  intense  hatred  that,  far  more 
than  Sparta,  Athens  seems  to  have  excited  under  various 
conditions.  The  enthusiasmtfor  Athens  among  the  Ionian 
Greeks  at  the  formation  of^the  Confederacy  was  evidently 
very  strong,  but  it  was  soon^to  be  followed  by  a  detestation 
as  universal  and  still  more  intense,  so  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Peloponnesian  War  "  the  good  wishes  of  all  men  made 
greatly  for  the  I^acedaemonians  ...  so  angry  were  most  with 
the  Athenians,  some  of  them  from  a  wish  to  be  liberated  from 
their  rule  and  others  from  a  fear  of  being  brought  under  it/'  ^ 

^  Thuc.  ii,  8.    All  quotations  in  this  chapter  are  from  Thucydides,  if  not 
otherwise  specified.    Dale's  translation  has  been  used  to  some  extent. 

286 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

During  the  next  few  years  we  hear  but  little  of  Sparta. 
We  have  chiefly  to  note  the  foundation  and  rapid  development 
of  the  so-called  Confederacy  of  Delos — the  work  especially  of 
Aristides  and  Cimon  ;  and,  secondly,  the  important  changes 
effected  at  Athens  by  the  influence  of  Themistocles. 

The  Confederacy  of  Delos 

The  allies,  especially  the  lonians,  had  begged  Athens  to 
assume  the  naval  command.  This  led  to  the  formation  of  a 
league,  nominally  anti-Persian,  under  the  hegemony  of  Athens. 
The  isle  of  Delos,  the  sacred  ancient  gathering-place  of  the 
Ionic  race,  was  chosen  as  headquarters  and  as  treasure-house. 
In  course  of  time  the  Confederacy  included  about  260  towns 
(Aristophanes  says  a  thousand!),  situate  mostly  in  Ionia  and 
Aeolis  and  the  adjacent  islands  and  Kuboea.  According  to  its 
wealth  each  state  had  to  contribute  its  share  in  fully  equipped 
vessels,  or  the  equivalent  in  tribute  ((popog).  Most  of  the 
smaller  and  some  of  the  greater  states  preferred  the  latter 
method,  and  thus  practically  subscribed  to  the  enlargement 
of  the  Athenian  fleet,  and  what  was  at  first  the  voluntary 
subscription  of  a  confederate  was  soon  regarded  by  Athens  as 
the  tribute  of  a  subject.  The  work  of  valuation  was  entrusted 
to  Aristides,  and  his  estimates  gave  such  general  satisfaction 
that  they  remained  in  force  for  half  a  century.     To  Cimon, 

1"  the  son  of  Miltiades,  was  given  the  command  of  the  confederate 
fleet.  His  first  feat,  after  expelling  Pausanias  from  Byzantium, 
was  the  capture  of  Bion — stubbornly  defended  by  the  Persian 
Boges,  who  finally  lit  a  pyre  and  flung  his  wife  and  children 
and  slaves  and  himself  into  the  flames.  A  year  or  two  later 
(473)  Cimon  distinguished  himself  by  capturing  from  pirates 
the  illustrious  isle  of  Scyros,  and  still  more  by  discovering,  as 
was  believed,  the  bones  of  Theseus,  who,  tradition  asserts, 
when  expelled  from  Athens  was  murdered  on  this  island  by 
tl^ycomedes  (the  king  at  whose  court  Achilles  lived  for  some 
time  disguised  as  a  girl).  The  bones  were  brought  to  Athens, 
and  possibly  the  Theseion  was  built  to  receive  them  ;  but  this 
is  doubted   (see  Note  A).     Some  five  years  later  (468)   the 

287 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
confederate  fleet,  after  having  driven  the  Persians  from  several 
lyycian  and  Carian  cities,  gained  a  brilHant  victory  over  the 
Persian  fleet  at  the  mouth  of  the  Eurymedon  in  Pamphylia. 
About  200  of  the  enemy's  vessels  were  destroyed,  as  well  as  a 
reinforcement  of  80  Phoenician  ships  that  arrived  after  the 
battle,  and  the  Greeks  are  said  to  have  disembarked  and 
routed  the  Persian  land  troops  on  the  same  day. 

Shortly  before  this  battle,  doubtless  with  the  full  approval 
of  Athens,  though  also  doubtless  not  with  the  full  approval  of 
the  confederate  council  (for  Thucydides  speaks  of  it  as  the 
"  subjugation  of  an  allied  city  contrary  to  agreement ''),  Cimon 
had  reduced  by  force  the  island  of  Naxos,  which  had  signified 
its  intention  of  withdrawing  from  the  Confederacy.  The 
Naxians  were  henceforth  treated  as  '  subject  allies  '  of  Athens, 
and  this  precedent  was  soon  followed  by  similar  cases.  Thasos 
quarrelled  with  Athens  about  a  gold-mine  and  '  revolted  ' 
(for  thus  the  Athenians  now  described  withdrawal  from  the 
league).  After  two  years  it  was  reduced  (463),  having  hoped 
in  vain  for  the  aid  of  the  lyacedaemonians,  who  were  prevented 
from  keeping  their  promise  by  an  earthquake — and  this  time 
a  really  serious  one,  as  we  shall  see  later. 

One  after  another  the  states  of  the  Confederacy,  discontented 
with  Athens  for  using  the  funds  and  the  fleet  against  Greeks 
instead  of  against  Persians,  were  either  reduced  by  force  or 
acquiesced  in  being  treated  as  tributaries  of  the  Athenian 
Empire,  until  only  Chios,  I^esbos,  and  Samos  were  still  autono- 
mous and  not  liable  to  military  service  under  Athenian  com-: 
manders,  although  obliged  to  contribute  contingents  to  the 
confederate  fleet ;  and,  if  we  allow  ourselves  to  look  forward 
a  few  years,  we  may  note  here  that  in  454  the  treasury  was 
removed  from  Delos  to  Athens  and  the  Confederacy  came  prac- 
tically to  an  end,  although  this  name  still  continued  to  be  used 
ofiicially  instead  of  the  word  '  Empire  '  {apx^) — a  word  odious 
to  the  democratic  Hellene,  except  in  the  case  of  such  lovers 
of  freedom  as  the  Athenians,  who,  as  Goethe  said,  loved  no 
freedom  but  their  own.  From  its  full  development  in  454  until 
its  total  collapse  at  the  end  of  the  Peloponnesian  War  this 
288 


8o.  Tkmpi;e  on  Sunion 


8i.  Theseion 


288 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

Athenian  Empire  existed  just  half  a  century.  But  this  is 
anticipation,  and  we  must  now  return  and  note  what  has 
been  occurring  at  Athens  itself. 

Themistocles  and  Events  at  Athens 

In  a  former  chapter  I  touched  upon  the  personality  and 
political  tenets  of  the  four  leading  Athenians  during  the 
Persian  invasion,  namely,  Themistocles,  Xanthippus,  Aristides, 
and  Cimon.  To  Themistocles  it  was  mainly  due  that  Athens 
had  become  a  maritime  power  and  had  conquered  at  Salamis. 
Xanthippus  had  succeeded  him  in  the  command  of  the  fleet,  and 
had  won  the  battle  of  Mycale.  Aristides  had  distinguished  him- 
self at  Marathon  and  at  Salamis,  and  had  commanded  at  Plataea, 
and  was  the  chief  organizer  of  the  Confederacy.  Cimon,  the 
youngest  of  the  four,  the  son  of  Miltiades,  was  actively  occupied 
in  extending  the  oversea  empire  of  Athens.  He  and  Aristides 
belonged  to  the  older  school  of  Cleisthenic  republicanism, 
opposed  to  the  more  advanced  democratic  and  '  Peiraean  ' 
influences  of  Themistocles,  and  were  politically  in  sympathy 
with  Xanthippus  ;  but  between  Cimon  and  Xanthippus  was 
a  very  strong  hereditary  hostility,  for  Xanthippus  had  been 
the  chief  accuser  of  Miltiades.  Themistocles  was  not  a  pro- 
fessional party  politician,  nor  was  he,  as  the  other  three,  of 
noble  family.  He  stood,  therefore,  somewhat  apart,  but  exer- 
cised great  influence  on  the  decisions  of  the  Kcclesia.  Even 
before  the  battle  of  Marathon,  in  493,  he  had  as  archon  per- 
suaded the  Athenians  to  begin  the  fortification  of  the  Peiraeus 
and  the  formation  of  new  docks.  These  operations  had  been 
stopped  by  the  Persian  invasions.  On  his  suggestion  they  were 
now  renewed,  and  walls  round  Athens  itself  were  begun, 
enclosing  a  greater  space  than  those  demolished  by  Peisistratus 
and  by  the  Persians.  Hereupon  Sparta  sent  envoys  to  propose 
the  stoppage  of  the  work  and  the  demolition  of  all  fortifications 
in  Greece ;  but  Themistocles,  says  Thucydides,  went  to  Sparta 
and  deluded  the  authorities  with  various  excuses,  while  at  home 
'  the  whole  population,  men,  women,  and  children,  worked  at 
the  building,  sparing  neither  private  nor  public  edifice.  .  .  , 

T  289 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

And  the  building  still  shows  even  now  " — as  its  relics  do  even 
in  our  day — ''  that  it  was  executed  in  haste,  for  the  foundations 
are  laid  with  stones  of  all  kinds,  and  many  columns  from 
tombs  and  sculptured  blocks  were  inserted."  Thus  ere  long 
Themistocles  was  able  to  inform  the  I^acedaemonians  that 
"  Athens  was  already  walled  and  capable  of  defending  itself," 
and  that  "  as  the  Athenians  had  abandoned  their  city  without 
the  leave  of  Sparta,  so  without  her  leave  they  intended  to 
have  their  city  walled." 

Besides  the  erection  of  city  ramparts  there  was  an  immense 
amount  of  clearance  and  rebuilding  to  be  done  in  Athens 
itself  and  on  the  Acropolis,  where,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
the  debris  of  the  old  temples  and  sculptures  was  cast  into 
the  spaces  between  the  new  walls  and  the  newly  levelled 
plateau.  On  this  plateau  arose  the  new  temples,  which  will 
be  described  later.  The  new  walls  of  the  Acropolis  were 
probably  erected,  not  by  the  advice  of  Themistocles,  but  by 
that  of  Cimon,  since  we  hear  of  the  southern  wall  being  built 
out  of  the  spoils  of  the  battle  of  the  Eurymedon  (468),  when 
Themistocles  was  an  exile  at  Argos,  or  perhaps  already  a 
fugitive  in  Asia. 

Whether  he  was  suspected  of  Medism  or  of  receiving  bribes, 
or  whether  arrogance  made  him  unpopular,  or  whether  his 
political  opponents  persuaded  the  Bcclesia  that  he  was  a  danger 
to  the  state,  is  not  known,  but  that  he  was  ostracized  is  certain 
— and  the  fact  is  illustrated,  if  not  proved,  by  the  potsherd 
bearing  his  name  that  may  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum 
(Fig.  75).  This  was  probably  in  471,  the  same  year  in  which 
Pausanias  met  his  fate.  For  some  years  he  ''  had  a  house  at 
Argos  and  used  to  travel  about  the  Peloponnese."  Then, 
apparently  about  467,  the  lyacedaemonians  accused  him  to  the 
Athenians  of  having  taken  part  in  the  intrigues  of  Pausanias. 
He  fled,  first  to  Corcyra,  then  through  Thessaly  (aided  by  the 
king,  Admetus)  to  Asia,  and  ultimately  reached  Susa.  Here 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  Artaxerxes,  who  was  now  king  (his  father, 
Xerxes,  having  been  murdered  by  Artabanus  in  465) ,  claiming 
recognition  as  a  "  benefactor  of  the  king  "  for  his  messages  sent 
290 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

to  Xerxes  (p.  268)  and  asking  for  a  year's  grace  in  order  that 
he  might  learn  the  Persian  language.  At  the  end  of  this  time 
he  presented  himself  and  gained  such  favour  with  the  Persian 
king — to  whom  he  proposed  plans,  never  to  be  carried  out, 
for  the  conquest  of  Greece — that  he  was  made  governor  of 
Asiatic  Magnesia  and  was  supplied  with  bread  and  wine  by 
the  cities  of  I^ampsacus  and  My  us.  Thus  he  lived,  as  a  Persian 
magnate,  till  about  450.  The  story  that  he  poisoned  himself 
with  bull's  blood  probably  arose  from  a  statue  that  was  erected 
to  him  in  Magnesia,  which  represented  him  pouring  a  libation 
while  standing  near  a  slain  bull.  "  His  relations  say  that  his 
bones  were  carried  over  to  Attica  and  buried  there  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  Athenians."  A  tomb  in  the  rock  near 
the  Peiraeus  lighthouse  is  still  shown  as  the  tomb  of  Themis- 
tocles. 

Aristides  had  died  ^  in  the  year  of  the  battle  of  the  Eury- 
medon  (468),  and  Cimon  was  thus  for  a  time  without  any 
powerful  political  opponent.  But  Xanthippus,  his  hereditary 
enemy,  now  dead  or  retired,  had  left  behind  him  a  son  who 
was  to  attain  by  his  splendid  gifts  of  intellect  and  character  an 
almost  absolute  control  of  the  state.  Nor  was  it  long  before  the 
popularity  of  the  victor  of  the  Eurymedon — the  generous  and 
jovial  old  sailor  whose  plentiful  lack  of  wit  had  been  proverbial 
in  his  earlier  days  and  whose  preferences  were  still  for  wine- 
bouts  and  aristocratic  boon  companions  rather  than  for  states- 
manship and  philosophy — suffered  total  eclipse.  Ostracism — 
the  almost  inevitable  fate  of  the  eminent  Athenian  statesman 
— came  upon  him  under  rather  dramatic  circumstances.  He 
had  always  obstinately  maintained  that  the  one  object  of 
Athens  should  be  to  extend  her  oversea  empire  and  harass 
Persia,  and  that  she  should  recognize  the  supremacy  of  Sparta 
on  land  and  live  at  peace  with  her — a  doctrine  that  won 
him  the  contemptuous  sobriquet  of  the  I^aconizer  or  Philo- 
I/aconian.     Now  in  464  a  very  severe  earthquake  laid  Sparta 

1  He  is  said  to  have  died  so  poor  that  he  was  buried  at  public  expense. 
Some  of  his  descendants,  fortune-tellers  and  beggars,  were  granted  rations 
by  the  state.  The  descendants  of  Themistocles  were  wealthy  and  respected. 
One  was  a  friend  of  Pausanias  the  traveller. 

291 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
in  ruins.  Many  Spartans  perislied,  and  the  opportunity  was 
seized  by  the  Messenian  Helots,  who,  after  defeating  the 
Spartans  with  the  loss  of  300  men  on  the  plain  of  Stenyclarus, 
fortified  themselves  (as  their  forefathers  had  done)  on  Mount 
Ithome.  For  more  than  two  years  they  defied  the  Spartans, 
who  at  last  appealed  for  assistance  to  Athens — the  Athenians 
being  skilled  in  siege  operations.  Cimon,  in  spite  of  the  oppo- 
sition of  Pericles  and  another  newly  risen  anti-oligarchical 
politician,  Bphialtes,  carried  the  Assembly  with  him  by  his 
sailor  eloquence.  "  Consent  not,''  he  exclaimed,  "  to  see 
Hellas  lamed  and  our  city  without  her  yoke-fellow  !  "  Four 
thousand  Athenian  hoplites  were  sent  under  his  command  to 
help  in  the  siege  of  Ithome  ;  but  Ithome  was  not  easily  to  be 
taken,  and  the  Spartans,  perhaps  suspecting  treason,  suddenly 
and  insultingly  dismissed  the  Athenian  troops.  The  indignation 
at  Athens  was  intense,  and  Cimon  was  ostracized.  For  about 
two  years  longer  Ithome  defied  capture.  At  last  the  Messe- 
nians  capitulated  on  the  condition  that  they  should  leave  the 
Peloponnese  ;  and  Athens  offered  them  a  site  for  a  new  home 
at  Naupactus,  the  haven  on  the  Corinthian  Gulf  which,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  so  called  because  it  served  as  a  ship-yard 
for  the  Dorians  on  their  invasion  of  the  Peloponnese.  It  had 
been  lately  occupied  by  the  Athenians  as  a  naval  station,  a 
kind  of  Gibraltar  commanding  the  entrance  of  the  gulf  and  the 
trade  with  Western  Hellas.  In  a  later  age  we  shall  hear  again 
of  these   Messenians  of  Naupactus   (see  Figs.    93,  122,   and 

pp.  336,  396)  • 

Soon  after  the  ostracism  of  Cimon  the  friend  of  Pericles, 
Bphialtes,  was  assassinated — probably  in  revenge  for  his 
attacks  on  the  ancient  and  aristocratic  council  of  the  Areo- 
pagus, which  he  accused  of  corrupt  practices  and  caused  to 
be  deprived  of  the  relics  of  its  political  power,  leaving  it  nothing 
but  jurisdiction  in  cases  of  homicide  and  a  few  religious  func- 
tions.^ Pericles  now  and  for  the  next  thirty  years  stood  alone 
at  the  helm  of  the  state,  often,  it  is  true,  fiercely  assailed,  but 
only  for  one  short  period  opposed  by  a  rival  of  any  importance. 
^  1  See  remarks  on  the  Eumenides,  p,  319. 

292 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

The  *  age  of  Pericles/  if  we  limit  the  name  to  these  thirty 
years  and  except  the  outbreak  of  the  Peloponnesian  War, 
offers  comparatively  little  of  moment  in  its  military  and 
political  occurrences,  but  much  that  is  of  supreme  literary  and 
artistic  interest.  It  is  true  that  the  fame  of  Pericles  himself 
rests  mainly  on  his  statecraft,  and  it  was  to  his  genius  and 
his  good  fortune  that  Athens  owed  a  measure  of  peace  during 
the  time  of  her  greatest  artistic  and  intellectual  activity,  but, 
putting  aside  the  question  whether  a  policy  which  resulted 
in  the  universal  hatred  of  Athens  and  the  acclamation  of  Sparta 
as  the  liberator  of  Greece  was  really  a  great  policy,  what  the 
Periclean  age  has  of  value  for  us  is  very  slightly  connected 
with  the  facts  of  its  political  history.  These  facts  I  shall 
therefore  state  as  concisely  as  possible. 

461-459.  After  Cimon's  banishment  Athens  breaks  with 
Sparta  and  forms  an  entente  with  Argos  (the  Oresteia  of  Aeschy- 
lus reflects  this  feeling).  Megara  puts  itself  under  the  pro- 
tectorate of  Athens.  lyong  Walls  are  built  between  Megara  and 
its  port  Nisaea  and  garrisoned  by  Athenians,  who  thus  com- 
mand the  passes  of  Geraneia  leading  to  the  Isthmus.  A  fleet 
of  200  Athenian  and  confederate  ships  cross  from  Cyprus  to 
Kgypt  to  assist  the  I^ibyan  king  Inaros  to  free  Egypt  from 
the  Persians.  They  sail  up  the  Nile  as  far  as  the  Pyramids 
and  capture  Memphis,  except  the  '  White  Citadel,'  which  holds 
out  for  years.  (Finally,  in  454,  Artaxerxes  sends  a  great 
army  and  besieges  the  Greeks  on  a  Nile  island,  which  he  takes 
by  diverting  the  stream.  The  Greeks  burn  their  ships  and 
capitulate  and  are  allowed  to  retreat  to  Cyrene.  A  reinforce- 
ment of  fifty  triremes  sent  from  Athens  is  annihilated  by  the 
Phoenician  fleet  in  the  Nile.) 

458-450.  The  occupation  of  Megara  by  Athens  causes  war 
with  Corinth  and  with  Aegina.  The  Athenians,  though  many 
of  their  warships  are  in  Egypt,  capture  seventy  Aeginetan 
vessels  and  force  Aegina  to  surrender  the  rest  and  to  be  enrolled 
as  subject  state  in  the  Confederacy.  The  I^acedaemonians 
send  troops  to  Northern  Greece  to  defend  their  mother-country, 

293 


ANCIENT    GREiECE 

Doris,  against  the  Phocians,  and  use  the  opportunity  to  re- 
estabhsh  a  Boeotian  league,  with  Thebes  at  its  head,  to  counter- 
act Athens.  On  their  return  they  threaten  Athens  and  rout 
the  Athenians  at  Tanagra,  but  soon  afterwards  Athens  re- 
occupies  Boeotia.  At  the  battle  of  Tanagra  the  exiled  Cimon 
had  appeared  and  offered  to  fight  as  hoplite.  His  request 
was  refused,  but  he  was  allowed  to  return  to  Athens.  Some 
years  later  he  negotiates  a  five-year  truce  between  Athens 
and  Sparta.  He  is  reinstated  as  admiral  of  the  confederate 
fleet,  and  once  more  renews  naval  operations  against  Persia. 
During  the  blockade  of  Cition  in  Cyprus  he  dies.  From  458 
to  455  the  two  lyong  Walls  from  Athens  to  the  Peiraeus  are 
built  (p.  297). 

448.  After  the  death  of  Cimon  the  Greeks  and  Persians 
seem  to  have  agreed  to  abstain  from  hostilities.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  a  formal  treaty  was  made.  Thucydides  does  not 
mention  it.  Some  later  writers  assert  that  Callias,  brother-in- 
law  of  Cimon,  went  to  Susa  to  ratify  it  and  that  the  Persian 
king  promised  to  send  no  ships  into  the  Aegaean  or  the  Pro- 
pontis,  nor  to  cross  the  river  Halys,  nor  to  claim  the  Greek 
Asiatic  cities,  except  those  in  Cyprus,  which  were  surrendered 
to  the  Phoenicians.  A  copy  of  this  treaty,  it  is  said,  was 
engraved  on  a  column  at  Athens.  As  we  hear  soon  after 
(Thuc.  i.  115)  of  a  satrap  of  Sardis,  some  of  these  details  are 
evidently  incorrect. 

447.  Boeotia  revolts  and  the  Athenians  suffer  a  severe 
defeat  and  lose  many  prisoners  at  Coroneia.  Buboea  revolts, 
but  is  reduced  by  Pericles.  Even  Megara,  which  had  volun- 
tarily put  itself  under  Athenian  protection,  finds  Athenian 
imperialism  too  hard  a  taskmaster,  or  possibly  is  induced  to 
revolt  by  the  oligarchical  faction,  and  massacres  the  Athenian 
garrison.    Then  a  Peloponnesian  army  invades  Attica. 

446.  Thirty  Years'  Peace  is  concluded.  Athens  agrees  to 
surrender  Megara  and  Achaea,  and  it  is  stipulated  that  neither 
side  shall  tamper  with  the  other's  allies.  The  terms  are 
humiliating  for  Athens  and  for  the  policy  of  Pericles.  The 
loss  of  Megara  and  the  lyong  Walls  of  Nisaea  deprives  Athens 
294 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

of  the  command  of  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  and  exposes  her 
to  attack  from  the  Peloponnese. 

445-431.  During  these  fourteen  years  Pericles  has  absolute 
control  of  the  state,  not  by  virtue  of  any  special  official  position 
(he  is  officially  only  one  of  the  ten  strategoi,  or  generals,  re- 
elected yearly),  but  merely  through  strength  of  character  and 
intellect.  About  443  a  politician  named  Thucydides  (not  the 
historian,  but  the  son  of  Melesias),  a  relative  of  Cimon,  heads 
a  party  that  violently  opposes  the  imperial  policy  of  Pericles, 
asserting  that  even  the  weal  of  the  empire  should  not  override 
justice  and  honour.  These  *  little  Athenians  '  (so  to  speak) 
sit  apart  in  the  public  Assembly  to  show  their  contempt  of 
the  malodorous  demos  and  its  hero,  whom  they  accuse  (doubtless 
with  some  justice)  of  misappropriating  the  funds  of  the  Con- 
federacy for  the  purpose  of  adorning  Athens  and  carrying  on 
her  wars  against  fellow-Greeks.  Pericles  argues  that  as  long 
as  the  allies  are  protected  satisfactorily  by  Athens  they  have 
no  right  to  interfere  with  the  finances — an  argument  well 
suited  to  win  the  approval  of  an  imperialistic  mob.  Thucy- 
dides, who  seems  to  have  been  an  orator  scarcely  inferior  to 
Pericles  himself,  and  who  evidently  stood  on  a  higher  level 
of  political  morality,  is  said  to  have  complained,  and  doubtless 
with  much  reason,  that  "  even  when  he  had  thrown  Pericles 
he  denied  that  he  had  fallen  and  talked  over  those  who  had 
seen  him  fall."  It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  when 
Thucydides  proposed  a  trial  by  ostracism  he  himself  was 
banished  (443).  It  was  perhaps  in  the  same  year  that  after 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  had  been  made  by  the  Sybarites  to 
refound  their  city  (destroyed  by  Croton  in  510),  Pericles 
settled  the  pan-Hellenic  colony  of  Thurii  near  the  site  of 
Sybaris — a  fact  the  more  interesting  because  both  Herodotus 
and  the  orator  I^ysias  were  probably  among  the  first  colonists, 
and  because  Hippodamus  (p.  298)  laid  out  the  plan  of  the 
new  city  on  the  new  method,  with  streets  at  right  angles,  as 
he  did  at  the  Peiraeus. 

439.  Samos,  one  of  the  three  autonomous  allies  and  the 
richest  of  them,  now  shared  the  fate  of  Naxos  and  of  many 

29s 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
others  of  the  confederates.  The  Samian  oligarchy  quarrelled 
with  Miletus,  and  refused  to  accept  the  arbitration  of  Athens, 
which  was  in  favour  of  the  Milesians,  some  say  because  Aspasia, 
who  was  Milesian,  influenced  Pericles !  Pericles  himself 
probably  went  out  in  command  of  the  fleet  and  established 
a  democracy  ;  but  the  exiles  returned,  and  again  Pericles 
went  out,  this  time  having  as  a  fellow-s^m^^^os  the  poet 
Sophocles,  who  had  lately  gained  great  fame  by  his  Antigone. 
After  a  blockade  of  nine  months  Samos  surrendered  her  fleet 
and  paid  looo  talents  indemnity.  Also  Byzantium  revolted, 
but  was  forced  to  return  to  allegiance.  Perhaps  it  was  at  this 
time  that  Pericles  visited  the  Euxine  with  a  large  fleet,  and 
sailed  as  far  as  the  Crimea.  In  his  funeral  speech  in  honour 
of  those  who  fell  in  the  Samian  war  his  eloquence  is  said  to 
have  produced  an  extraordinary  effect.  He  was  crowned  as 
an  Olympic  victor.  But  Cimon's  sister  Elpinice  (who  seems 
not  to  have  accepted  Pericles'  definition  of  the  ideal  woman 
as  one  about  whom  least  is  said)  reproached  him  publicly  with 
having  triumphed  over  fellow-Greeks,  while  her  brother  had 
triumphed  only  over  the  barbarian. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  events  (the  sedition  at  Kpidamnus 
and  the  sea-fight  of  the  Corcyraeans  against  the  Corintliians) 
which  were  among  the  immediate  causes  of  the  outbreak  of 
the  Peloponnesian  War,  and  it  will  be  better  to  reserve  them  for 
consideration  in  closer  connexion  with  the  war.  Also  whatever 
more  there  is  to  be  said,  or  quoted,  on  the  subject  of  the  policy 
and  character  of  Pericles  will  be  more  intelligible  if  deferred  to 
the  end  of  his  career.  In  the  following  sections  a  brief  account 
is  given  of  some  of  the  important  artistic  and  literary  works 
produced  during  the  period  that  we  have  been  considering. 

SECTION  A :  ARCHITECTURE  AND  SCULPTURE 

{c.  478-431) 

When  the  Athenians  returned  to  their  city  after  its  second 
occupation  by  the  Persians  and  the  withdrawal  of  Mardonius 
in  479  they  at  once  set  to  work,  as  we  have  seen,  to  clear  away 
296 


8  3.  Parthenon,  from  West 


:^5s:;: 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

the  ruins  and  to  rebuild.  They  were  also  persuaded  by 
Themistocles  to  surround  Athens  with  new  ramparts  and  to 
fortify  also  the  Peiraeus,  and,  probably  by  Cimon's  advice, 
they  set  aside  some  of  the  spoil  taken  from  the  Persians  at  the 
Kurymedon  for  the  building  of  the  great  south  wall  of  the  Acro- 
polis, and  perhaps  also  for  clearing  and  enlarging  the  plateau 
and  either  attempting  to  restore  the  old  temple  of  Athene  Polias 
(see  Note  A,  14)  or  laying  foundations  for  new  temples.  More, 
however,  was  not  accomplished  until  about  twenty  years  later, 
when  Pericles,  at  the  zenith  of  his  power,  induced  the  Athenians 
to  vote  a  large  sum  (partly  their  own  and  partly  taken  from 
the  treasury  of  the  confederates)  for  the  erection  of  the 
Parthenon,  which  was  built  on  old  foundations,  but  after  a 
new  plan,  devised  by  the  architect  Ictinus. 

But  before  we  come  to  the  Parthenon  and  its  sculptures  a 
few  words  should  be  said  about  some  works  of  great  political, 
if  not  artistic,  importance,  namely,  the  port  of  the  Peiraeus 
and  the  I^ong  Walls  which  connected  it  with  Athens.  The 
fortifications  of  the  Peiraeus,  as  also  the  first  formation  of  docks 
in  its  three  natural  inlets,  Munychia,  Zea,  and  '  The  Harbour,' 
of  which  Cantharus  ('  The  Cup  ')  was  the  part  used  by  warships, 
were  due  to  the  influence  of  Themistocles,  and  probably  the 
I^ong  Walls  were  begun  or  planned  before  his  exile ;  but  they 
seem  to  have  been  finished  between  458  and  455.  These 
walls  diverged  considerably  in  order  to  include  both  the 
Peiraeus  and  the  open  bay  of  Phaleron,  the  beach  of  which, 
some  two  miles  in  extent,  offered  an  easy  landing-place  for 
an  invader.  About  443  Pericles  induced  the  Athenians  to 
remedy  this  defect  by  building  another  long  wall  parallel  to 
the  northern  wall,  and  at  a  distance  from  it  of  about  400 
yards,  thus  forming  a  far  narrower  and  more  defensible  fortified 
passage  of  about  four  miles  between  the  port  and  the  upper 
city.  After  the  completion  of  this  third  wall  the  old  Phaleron 
wall  was  no  longer  kept  in  repair,  and  the  open  beach  of 
the  Phaleron  bay  was  deserted  for  the  quays  and  marts  of  the 
new  harbours.  The  town  of  Peiraeus,  spreading  round  the 
great  harbour  and  Zea,  and  up  the  slopes  of  Acte  and  Munychia, 

297 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

was  laid  out  on  a  new  plan,  in  rectangular  blocks,  by  the 
Milesian  architect  Hippodamus,  who  also  laid  out  the  new 
cities  of  Thurii  and  Rhodes,  and  whose  name  was  given  to 
the  chief  market-place  in  the  Peiraeus.  A  fine  Kmporion,  or 
*  Place  of  Commerce,'  and  a  spacious  colonnaded  '  Show-place  ' 
(Deigma)  for  imported  merchandise  were  constructed,  and  a 
thousand  talents  spent  on  new  docks  and  an  arsenal. 

The  Peiraeus  has  of  late  years  recovered  its  ancient  name  as 
well  as  its  ancient  prosperity.  As  late  as  1835  it  was  known  as 
Porto  lycone.  This  name  its  little  fishing  hamlet  received  on 
account  of  the  ancient  stone  lion  which  once  stood  at  the 
entrance  of  the  harbour,  and  which  was  carried  off  by  the 
Venetians  in  1687  and  now  stands  in  front  of  the  arsenal  at 
Venice. 

Having  secured  their  city  and  their  port  by  ramparts  and 
long  walls,  the  Athenians  were  easily  won  over  by  Pericles 
to  beheve  that  it  was  their  duty  to  show  their  gratitude  for 
deliverance  from  the  barbarian  by  erecting  worthier  shrines 
"  to  the  gods.  They  had  still  stored  up  in  their  treasury  a 
great  amount  of  Persian  spoil,  aiidjthe  yearly  tribute  of  thejr. 
subject  aUies  was  abmit  600  lakats — some  at  least  of  which 
they  thought  it  justifiable  to  use  in  adorning  the  imperial 
city.  On  the  Acropolis,  in  the  place  of  the  ancient  temples 
burnt  by  Mardonius,  had  arisen — or  perhaps  had  only  been 
begun — a  new  shrine  to  receive  the  old  wooden  idol  of  Athene, 
which  had  doubtless  been  hidden  away  during  the  barbarian 
invasion.  And  Cimon,  who  did  not  believe  in  fortifying  the 
city,  had  built  a  strong  portal  and  a  south  wall  for  the  citadel. 
Moreover,  on  the  plateau  inside  Cimon' s  Gate  statues  were 
again  erected,  among  them  {c.  460)  a  colossal  bronze  Athene 
by  Pheidias,  then  about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  some  ten 
years  later  perhaps  his  scarcely  less  famous  I^emnian  Athene 
(see  Fig.  87  and  lyist  of  Illustrations). 

The  greater  statue — which  was  dedicated  from  Persian 
spoils  and  was  sometimes  called  the  '  Promachos,'  or  Champion 
Goddess — is  said  to  have  been,  together  with  its  pedestal, 
66  feet  high.  In  representations  of  the  Acropolis  on  coins 
298 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

it  overtops  considerably  the  Parthenon  and  the  Propylaea. 
The  crest  on  the  helmet  and  the  gilded  tip  of  the  spear  served, 
says  Pausanias,  as  a  landmark  for  sailors,  like  the  gilt  angel 
on  the  Venetian  Campanile.  The  statue  stood  on  the  Acropolis 
for  eight  centuries,  and  was  then  probably  taken  to  Constanti- 
nople, and  was  there  destroyed  by  a  mob  in  a.d.  1203.  The 
lycmnian  Athene  was  a  smaller  bronze  statue  dedicated  by 
the  Athenian  colonists  of  I^emnos.  This  island,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  gained  for  Athens  by  Miltiades  shortly  before  the 
battle  of  Marathon,  and  the  colonists  probably  commissioned 
Pheidias  to  make  the  statue  about  450. 

But  Athens  possessed  no  longer — indeed,  she  never  had 
possessed — any  shrine  worthy  of  her  goddess,  any  temple  so 
majestic  as  that  of  Delphi  or  of  Olympia  or  Bphesus  or 
Samos  or  Sicilian  Acragas  or  Selinus,  or  even  far-away  Italian 
Paestum. 

So  keenly  did  Pericles  feel  this  that  in  448,  having  perhaps 

failed  in  getting  money  voted  by  the  Athenians,  he  induced  or 

allowed  them  to  send  an  embassy  to  the  other  Grecian  states 

proposing  a  pan-Hellenic  congress  in  order  to  discuss  various 

matters,  especially  the  restoration  of  the  temples  burnt  by 

,  the   barbarians.     Naturally   the    "  twenty  elderly  Athenians 

I  were  rebuffed,"  as  Grote  tells  us.     Sparta  cared  httle  for  grand 

1  temples  and  such  things,  and  doubtless  regarded  the  proposal 

as  a  sly  stroke  of  policy  for  increasing  the  imperial  power  of 

Athens.     Perhaps  this  rebuff  effected  what  the  eloquence  of 

Pericles  had  failed  to  effect. 

The  chief  buildings  erected  by  the  Athenians  in  this  period 
were  the  Parthenon  (c.  445-438),  the  Theseion,  the  temple  on 
Sunion,  the  Odeion,  the  new  Propylaea  (437-432),  and  the  Hall 
of  Mysteries  at  Bleusis.  Besides  these  we  may  note  the 
splendid  temple  of  Apollo  at  Phigaleia,  in  Messenia,  designed 
by  the  Athenian  Ictinus,  the  chief  architect  of  the  Parthenon. 
Three  of  these,  and  also  the  Krechtheion,  which  was  somewhat 
later,  are  described  in  Note  A  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 
Of  the  others  the  following  brief  account  may  be  useful. 

The  Propylaea  (i.e.  the  Gate-porticoes)  took  the  place  of  the 
300 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

fortress-portal  built  by  Cimon,  and  were  for  show  rather  than 
for  defence.  The  edifice  was  designed  by  Mnesicles  and  built 
between  437  and  432.  It  consisted  of  a  massive  wall  in  which 
were  pierced  five  gateways,  and  on  each  side  of  the  wall  was 
a  portico  of  six  Doric  columns.  Through  the  central  gateway 
ran  the  main  road.  The  other  gateways,  two  on  each  side,  were 
on  a  higher  basement,  reached  by  several  steps  of  marble  and 
one  of  black  Eleusinian  stone.  The  gateways  had  massive  doors, 
whose  '  harsh  thunder  '  is  mentioned  by  Aristophanes.  The 
inner  roof  of  the  fore-portico  was  supported  by  six  Ionic 
columns.  This  central  building  was  to  be  flanked  by  projecting 
wings  with  colonnades  backed  by  spacious  halls.  The  north 
wing,  much  of  which,  together  with  considerable  portions  of 
the  central  building,  still  exists,  was  fairly  well  completed, 
and  contained  a  portico  and  a  hall  (Pinakotheke)  in  which 
votive  paintings  were  hung,  some  of  them  probably  by  the 
famous  painter  Polygnotus.  (He  had  probably  already  painted 
his  fresco  (?)  of  the  battle  of  Marathon  in  the  Stoa  Poikile, 
near  the  market-place,  and  a  picture  of  the  Descent  of  OdyvSseus 
into  Hades  for  the  I^esche  of  the  Cnidians  at  Delphi.)  The 
south  wing,  however,  was  never  completed,  either  because  of 
the  Peloponnesian  War  or  else  because  the  ground  had  already 
been  consecrated  as  the  site  of  the  temples  of  Brauronian 
Artemis  and  Athene  Nike,  and  the  priests  refused  to  give  it 
up.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  reason,  the  little  temple  of 
Athene  Nike  was  built  on  this  projecting  cliff,  as  is  explained 
in  Note  A. 

The  Odeion,  or  Music  Hall,  was  built  soon  after  Pericles  had 
got  rid  of  his  opponent  Thucydides  (442)  and  was  able  to 
indulge  more  freely  his  wish  to  spend  public  money  on  splendid 
structures.  Its  site  was  on  the  south-west  slope  of  the  Acropolis, 
not  far  from  the  theatre  of  Dionysus.  (A  far  greater  Odeion 
was  built  three  centuries  later  near  the  Propylaea  by  Herodes 
Atticus.  In  passing  note  that  the  theatre  of  Dionysus,  in  which 
all  the  masterpieces  of  the  Attic  drama  were  first  performed,  was 
at  this  time  only  a  somewhat  primitive  stage  facing  the 
Acropolis,  on  the  natural  slope   of  which  the  audience  was 

301 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
accommodated  with  wooden  benches  or  dug-out  seats.     The 
huge  auditorium,  capable  of  holding  30,000  spectators,  was 
excavated   and    furnished   with  stone    seats    in    the    fourth 
century.) 

The  Hall  of  Mysteries  at  Eleusis  was  constructed  about  the 
same  time  to  replace  the  old  building  destroyed  by  the  Persians. 
The  design  was  by  Ictinus,  and  the  superintending  architect 
was  Coroebus.     The  inner  temple  (Telesterion,  or  '  Place  of 
Initiation  ')  was  partly  built  into  the  rock  of  the  Kleusinian 
acropolis.     It  was  afterwards    {c    310)  furnished  with  a  fine 
Doric  colonnade.    The  Mysteries  were  celebrated  here  down  to 
A.D.  396,  when  the  building  was  burnt  by  Alaric. 
p  The  Parthenon  was  begun  about  445,  some  three  years  before 
/the  ostracism  of  Thucydides.    It  is  therefore  probable  that  his 
indictment  of  Pericles  was  based  mainly  on  the  great  expenses 
/  demanded  for  this  magnificent  temple. ^     The  designer  was 
I  Ictinus,  the  builder  Callicrates,  and  to  Pheidias  was  entrusted 
the  decorative  work.   It  is  regarded  as  the  purest  type  of  Doric 
architecture,   the  characteristics  of  which  I  have  explained 
elsewhere.    Its  dimensions  are  228  by  loi  feet ;    its  peristyle 
consists  of  8  X  17  columns  of  about  35  feet.  At  both  ends  there 
is  a  double  portico,  the  inner  row  of  columns  standing  on  a  level 
with  the  inner  temple  and  two  steps  above  the  stylobat  (base- 
ment of  the  outer  columns) .  The  sanctuary  containing  the  gold 
and  ivory  statue  of  Athene  by  Pheidias,  which  was  38  feet  high, 
formed  the  larger  (eastern)  part  of  the  inner  temple,  and  was 
enclosed  by  walls  and  divided  lengthwise,  like  a  church  with 
its  nave  and  two  aisles,  by  two  rows  of  small  columns  arranged 
in  two  tiers,  one  above  the  other.    The  statue  stood  facing  the 
eastern  portal,  so  as  to  receive  the  light  of  the  rising  sun,  or 
perhaps  the  sunlight  from  the  open  space  in  the  roof — if  the 
Parthenon  was  a  hypaethral  temple.     Behind  this  sanctuary 
(called  the  Hecatompedos,  or  '  Hundred-foot  Shrine,'  being  100 
Attic  feet  in  length)   was  a  smaller  compartment  with  its 

1  Grote  gives  3000  talents  as  perhaps  spent  at  this  time  on  public  buildings 
(say  ;^70o,ooo,  representing  three  times  as  much  in  modern  money).  The 
gold  on  the  Athene  statue  weighed  40  talents.  In  the  treasury  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Peloponnesian  War  were  6000  talents  (Thuc.  ii.  13). 

302 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE         ^ 

entrance  at  the  west  end  of  the  temple.  This  was  the  '  Par- 
thenon '  proper.  It  was  perhaps  so  named  because  it  was 
(besides  being  the  treasure-house)  the  dwelHng  of  the  maiden 
priestesses  of  the  goddess,  and  it  may  have  given  its  name  to 
the  whole  temple.  But  possibly  the  word  '  Parthenon  '  ('  Room 
of  the  Maiden/  or  '  the  Maidens  ')  was  originally  applied  to 
the  temple  itself,  although  it  seems  that  at  first  it  retained 
the  name  of  the  old  temple  of  Athene  Polias.  Apart  from  its 
sculptures  and  regarded  only  as  a  building,  the  Parthenon 
possesses,  even  in  its  present  state,  a  beauty  and  dignity  such 
as  we  seek  in  vain  in  other  ancient  ruins,  however  impressive. 
It  is  as  impossible  to  analyse  and  define  such  qualities  as  to 
discover  by  dissection  the  causes  of  what  is  great  and  beau- 
tiful in  the  art  of  Pheidias  or  of  Sophocles  ;  but  it  is  possible 
to  note  the  wonderful  care  that  in  the  best  Greek  architecture, 
as  in  the  best  Greek  sculpture  and  poetry,  was  given  to  details 
of  symmetry  and  proportion.  Doubtless  in  order  to  render 
the  perspective  effect  more  perfectly  harmonious  and  to  lend 
a  certain  undefinable  grace  and  beauty  to  the  whole  building,  I 
the  use  of  the  absolutely  straight  line  was  avoided  to  a  great 
extent.  The  columns  not  only  taper  gently,  and  gently  diminish 
the  width  of  their  flutings,  but  have  the  slight  convexity  in 
their  middle  parts  which  is  known  as  entasis.  They  also  all 
lean  very  slightly  inwards,  and  the  corner  columns  are  slightly 
thicker  than  the  others.  Even  the  steps  of  the  marble  basement 
are  not  exactly  horizontal,  but  have  a  slight  convexity.  By 
what  rules,  if  by  any,  the  Greeks  thus  attempted  to  eliminate 
the  imperfections  of  natural  perspective  as  presented  to  us  by 
our  dull  senses  it  is  impossible  to  say.  I 

The  Parthenon  was  built  of  Pentelic  (Attic)  marble,  which! 
was  first  used  about  this  time,   all  finer  architectural  and 
statuary  work  having  been  until  now  done  in  the  imported 
Parian  marble.    The  Pentelic  stone  contains  a  certain  amount 
of  iron,  to  which  is  due  the  rich  golden  tint  that  it  acquires. 
As  has  been  stated  elsewhere,  colour  was  used  for  the  decora-  : 
tion  of  Greek  temples  and  statuary  very  much  more  freely  i 
than  we  are  willing  to  believe,  accustomed  as  we  are  to  Greek 

303 


^  ANCIENT    GREECE 

j    architecture  and  sculptures  deprived  of  their  original  colours 
\    and  to  the  dazzling  white  of  Carrara  marble  in  modern  statues. 
j    How  far  the  Parthenon  was  decorated  externally  with  colour 
I    is  not  easy  to  discover,  but  probably  the  columns  and  architraves 
I    were    left    uncoloured    (though    ornamented    with    wreaths, 
shields,  &c.)  or  were  only  slightly  tinted,  while  the  mouldings 
and  other  decorations  were  brightly  coloured,  as  well  as  the 
dress  and  other  details  of  the  pediment  sculptures  and  the 
reliefs  of  the  metopes  and  frieze,  all  of  which  had  doubtless 
a  background   of  dark  red  or  blue.    Above  the  architraves 
of  the  outer  colonnade  (as  in  all  Doric  temples)  the  frieze 
was    divided    by   triglyphs    into   metopes.     These   metopes, 
ninety-two   in   number,    were    all    sculptured    in   very   high 
relief.      As    each    forms    a    distinct   picture    it    is    easy    to 
understand   why   metopes   generally   represent   concentrated 
and  vigorous  action,  every  group  being  self-balanced  and  in- 
dependent.     In  the  Parthenon  the  metopes  depict  contests 
between   Centaurs   and   I^apithae   and   between   Greeks   and 
Amazons  (Fig.  82),  and  possibly  (on  the  north  side,  where  the 
reliefs  are  very  weather-worn)  scenes  from  the  Trojan  War. 
Fifteen  of  the  best  are  in  the  British  Museum.     Some  are 
exceedingly   vigorous   and   wonderfully   balanced,    and   were 
possibly  the  work  of  Pheidias  or  of  Myron,  who  excelled  in  poise 
amidst  violent  action  (as  in  his  Discobolos  and  his  Marsyas) ; 
these  have  a  decided  likeness  to  the  high-reliefs  of  the  Theseion. 
Others  again  are  of  very  inferior  design  and  workmanship, 
jand  were  probably  Ti>y  disciples  of   the  '  athletic^  scEooF^ 
iArgos. 

5  ""The  frieze  of  the  Parthenon  (much  of  which  is  in  the  British 
;  Museum)  was  a  continuous  frieze,  as  in  an  Ionic  temple,  and 
iran  above  the  inner  columns  of  the  porticoes,  all  round 
I  the  outside  of  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary.  It  could  thus  be 
j  seen  by  those  who  walked,  or  a  procession  which  marched, 
round  the  Parthenon,  and  "  the  figures  would  seem  to  advance 
I  as  the  spectator  moved  "  (Gardner). 

Being  under  the  colonnade  and  only  lighted  from  below,  the 
sculptures  (especially  the  lower  portions)  were  in  very  low  relief, 

304 


■"    '       '  'i  ■■   "'UJHAJM 


'-r    v 


85.  Portions  of  Parthi^non  Frikze 


304 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE        .., 

so  as  to  avoid  too  deep  shadows.  The  continuous  (Ionic)  frieze- 
is,  of  course,  well  adapted  for  the  representation  of  processions. 
The  subject  of  the  Parthenon  frieze  is  the  Panathenaic  pro- 
cession, the  great  solemnity  that  took  place  every  fourth  year 
in  connexion  with  the  Panathenaic  games,  and  in  which  all  the 
richest  and  noblest  born,  all  the  magistrates  and  colonial  and  ; 
foreign  representatives,  all  the  youth  and  beauty  of  Athens,  ■ 
took  an  eager  part.  The  procession  consists  of  knights  on 
horseback,  charioteers,  victims  for  sacrifice,  musicians,  maidens 
carrying  the  sacred  vessels  and  baskets,  the  archons  and  other 
dignitaries  ;  and  over  the  main  portal  of  the  temple  is  seated 
in  dignified  expectation,  awaiting  the  procession  of  worshippers, 
Athene  herself  with  all  the  other  Olympian  divinities — a 
magnificent  group.  Nigh  at  hand  is  a  priest  with  the  sacred 
robe  (peplos)  which  was  offered  to  Athene  on  these  occasions. 
There  is  an  unity  of  design  as  well  as  a  similarity  of  workmanship 
in  the  whole  frieze  from  which  it  is  fairly  safe  to  conclude  that  it 
was  mainly  the jvotk  of  Phexdias  himself,  or  carried  out  under 
his  direct  supervision.  Perhaps  there  is  a  concentration  of 
power  in  a  single  statue  which  may  make  it  a  more  wonderful 
product  of  creative  art  than  any  sculptured  group  or  continuous 
frieze  can  be  (the  difference  being  somewhat  analogous  to 
that  between  a  drama  and  an  epic),  but  by  reason  of  its  incom- 
parable grace  and  beauty  the  Parthenon  frieze,  even  in  its 
present  state,  holds  something  of  the  same  place  among  works 
of  sculpture  that  the  Odyssey  holds  among  works  of  poetic 
literature,  while  the  groups  of  the  two  pediments  may  perhaps 
be  likened  to  the  Iliad. 

The  sculptures  of  the  pediments,  doubtless  also  designed 
by  Pheidias  and  executed  under  his  direct  supervision,  were; 
still  more  wonderful  for  their  masculine  beauty  and  poweri 
than  the  frieze  was  for  its  beauty  of  delicate  grace.  So  much 
we  can  tell  from  their  scanty  and  mutilated  remains — most  of 
which  may  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  impossible  for 
me  to  attempt  any  full  description  here,  or  to  discuss  the  very 
numerous  and  diverse  theories  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  various 
figures  and  the  way  in  which  they  were  grouped.     A  fairly   i 

u  305    I 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
isatisfactory  reconstruction,  or  rather  restoration,  made  by 
jthe  Austrian  sculptor  Schwerzek,  is  given  in  Fig.  86.  All 
such  reconstructions  are  considerably  indebted  to  drawings 
,;  of  the  Parthenon  that  were  made  by  a  French  artist,  Carrey, 
;  in  1674,  a  few  years  before  a  German  gunner  of  the  Venetian 
forces  besieging  the  Turks  in  the  Acropolis  succeeded  in 
dropping  a  shell  into  the  Turkish  powder  magazine,  which 
was  located  in  the  Parthenon,  with  the  result  that  a  great 
part  of  the  temple,  until  then  in  fair  preservation,  was 
demolished  and  many  of  the  sculptures  were  shattered.  The 
Venetian  commander  endeavoured  to  carry  off  the  figure  of 
Poseidon  and  the  horses  of  Athene's  chariot,  but  the  whole 
group  fell  and  was  broken  to  pieces.  In  1801  the  English 
ambassador,  lyord  Elgin,  procured  a  firman  allowing  him 
to  "  remove  a  few  blocks  of  stone  and  figures,"  and  removed 
the  greater  part  of  the  metopes,  frieze,  and  pediment  sculptures 
— perhaps  fortunately,  as  they  were  thus  saved  from  further 
destruction  by  weather  and  vandalism. 

The  subject  of  the  east  pediment  was  the  birth  of  Athene. 
The  central  figures  are  lost.    They  perhaps  represented  the  birth 
as  it  is  frequently  depicted  on  old  vases,  where  the  goddess 
in  the  form  of  a  small  fully  armed  figure  springs  forth  from 
the  head  of  Zeus,  which  has  been  smitten  by  Hephaestus  with 
his  hammer ;    or  more  probably  Pheidias  chose  a  moment 
of  more  dignity,  and  represented  the  goddess  already  in  full 
stature  by  the  side  of  her  father.     An  extant  but  mutilated 
figure  is  believed  to  represent  Iris  starting  to  take  the  news  to 
mortals.     In  the  left  corner  Helios  (the  sun)  is  rising  from  the 
sea  in  his  chariot,  and  in  the  right  the  moon  (Selene)  is  descending 
with  her  chariot  into  the  waves.     The  other  figures,  sometimes 
called  '  Theseus '  (or  '  Olympus '),  '  The  Three  Fates '  (or  '  The 
Seasons  '),  and  so  on,  are  all  of  uncertain  meaning.   The  subject 
of  the  west  pediment  was  the  contest  of  Poseidon  and  Athene  for 
the  land  of  Attica  (see  p.  32).     Poseidon  produced,  to  support 
his  claim,  a  spring  of  salt  water,  and  Athene  made  an  olive- 
tree  spring  forth.    (Both  were  preserved  as  objects  of  reverence 
in  the  ancient   '  house  of  Erechtheus,'  which  was  replaced  by 
306 


m 


.:^«r, 


'Ci 


vO 
O 
ro 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE  , 

the  Brechtheion.)     The  central  group  of  Poseidon,  Athene,  ' 
and  the  horses  of  Athene's  chariot  were  destroyed  as  has  been 
explained.     Carrey's  sketch  depicts  Poseidon  as  a  huge  nude 
figure  starting  backwards  in  amazement  before  Athene,  much 
as  Marsyas  does  in  Myron's  group  (see  Fig.  88  and  explanation,  ; 
p.  309).     The  chariot  of  Poseidon,  on  the  right,  was  probably  | 
drawn  by  sea-horses.     Reclining  figures   that  once  filled  the  ' 
corners  may  perhaps  have  represented  the  streams  Ilissus  and 
Cephisus,  between  which  Athens  lay.     But  the  relics  are  too  few 
and  too  mutilated  to  serve  for  any  certain  reconstruction,  and 
it  may  be  safer  to  confine  one's  admiration  to  them  as  single 
figures  and  as  examples  of  unrivalled  skill  in  the  technique  of 
sculpture — "  marvellous  translations  into  marble,"  as  they  have    j 
been  called,  "  of  flesh  and  of  drapery." 

Pheidias  was  born  about  500,  so  he  must  have  had  distinct 
memories  of  Marathon,  and  perhaps  fought  at  Salamis  and 
Plataea.  Among  his  earliest  works  was  a  group  (Miltiades 
amidst  gods  and  heroes)  erected  at  Delphi,  probably  by 
Cimon  to  commemorate  Marathon  and  his  father.  His 
colossal  bronze  Athene  has  already  been  mentioned,  and  his 
Athene  lycmnia.  Of  his  chryselephantine  Athene  Parthenos 
we  are  forced  to  form  our  only  conception  from  two  most 
unattractive  statuettes  and  a  few  gems,  busts,  and  coins 
(Figs.  89,  90,  91).  After  the  dedication  of  the  Parthenon 
in  438  (though  the  chronology  is  uncertain)  Pheidias  seems  to 
have  spent  five  years  at  Olympia  working  at  his  great  statue 
of  Olympian  Zeus,  which  ancient  writers  describe  as  the  most 
majestic  and  impressive  of  all  images  of  the  gods.  The  throne 
on  which  Zeus  was  seated  was  probably,  with  its  supporting 
pedestal  (22  feet  broad),  the  most  magnificent  work  of  decora- 
tive sculpture  ever  produced.  Every  available  surface  was 
I  used  for  reliefs  or  paintings.  The  statue  itself  was  about  40  feet 
high,  and  the  whole  monument  perhaps  over  60  feet,  so  that, 
it  was  said,  Zeus  could  not  stand  up  without  putting  his  head 
through  the  roof.  On  the  extended  right  hand  of  the  god 
stood  a  Victory,  on  his  sceptre  perched  his  eagle.  Rough 
imitations  of  the  monument  and  of  the  head  of  this  Pheidian 

307 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Zeus  may  be  seen  on  coins  (Plate  VI,  8,  and  Plate  III,  lo), 
and  some  of  these  heads  are  incomparably  more  satisfactory 
than  any  relic  we  possess  of  the  Athene ;  but  this  is  all  that 
is  extant  to  help  us  to  form  any  conception  of  the  greatest 
masterpiece  of  Greek  sculpture.  Caligula  tried  to  remove  the 
statue,  but  portents,  it  is  said,  deterred  him. 

It  was  probably  after  his  return  to  Athens,  about  432,  that 
Pheidias  was  accused  (by  the  enemies  of  Pericles)  of  peculation 
and  sacrilege.  He  was  able  to  refute  the  first  charge  because, 
by  the  advice  of  Pericles,  he  had  made  all  the  gold  ornaments 
of  the  Athene  detachable,  and  could  thus  prove  that  he  had 
used  the  whole  of  the  forty  talents  entrusted  to  him.  The  other 
accusation  was  based  on  the  fact  that  he  had  introduced  his 
own  portrait  and  that  of  Pericles  in  the  decorations  of  Athene's 
shield  (see  Fig.  79  and  lyist  of  Illustrations) .  It  is  said  that  he — 
the  great  artist  who  had  been  lately  the  pride  of  Athens  and 
of  all  Greece — was  condemned  on  this  trivial  charge  and  thrown 
into  prison  and  died  there — a  fact  almost  incredible  if  we  had 
not  the  cases  of  Anaxagoras  and  Socrates  and  others  to  prove 
how  fatal  were  the  results  of  giving  judicial  powers  to  a  bigoted 
and  litigious  populace,  whose  vaunted  reverence  for  law 
was  merely  a  reverence  for  their  own  verdicts,  not  for  any 
principles  of  justice  and  humanity.  The  creation  of  the 
dicasteries,  that  much-lauded  gift  (confirmed  by  the  wise 
Pericles  himself)  to  the  Athenian  mob,  led  to  the  pernicious 
influence  of  sophists  and  rhetoricians  and  inflammatory  talk 
of  all  kinds,  and  the  consequences  were  inevitable. 

Contemporary  with  Pheidias  were  the  sculptor  Calamis, 
renowned  for  his  Attic  grace  uninfluenced  by  Argive  '  athleti- 
cism '  and  renowned  for  his  horses  (see  the  Delphic  charioteer. 
Fig.  74  and  p.  231),  and  Alcamenes,  a  I^esbian,  and  Paeonius,  of 
Mende  in  Thrace.  These  two  are  said  by  Pausanias  to  have 
made  the  fine  pediment  sculptures  for  the  magnificent  temple 
of  Zeus  at  Olympia  [c.  450,  some  years  before  Pheidias  was 
summoned  to  make  the  great  statue) .  Many  of  these  sculptures 
have  been  recovered — enough  to  allow  of  a  fairly  complete 
reconstruction  of  the  two  pediments,  which  represented  the 
308 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

race  of  Pelops  and  Oenomaus  and  the  fight  of  the  Centaurs 
and  lyapithae.  Except  one  majestic  statue  with  outstretched 
arm — perhaps  an  Apollo — the  excavated  figures  have  not, 
however,  raised  our  esteem  for  these  sculptors.  Nor  can 
one  easily  beheve  that  such  a  heavy,  stiff,  and  somewhat 
antiquated  style  could  ever  have  been  practised  by  a  sculptor 
who  (perhaps  when  an  old  man  and  influenced  by  the  Attic 
grace  of  Pheidias)  was  able  to  produce  such  a  miracle  of  delicate 
beauty  and  lightness  as  the  '  Nike  of  Paeonius,'  one  of  the 
two  great  art  treasures  discovered  by  the  excavators  at 
Olympia  (Fig.  93). 

Another  and  perhaps  greater  contemporary  of  Pheidias  was 
Myron  (c.  500-410),  an  Attic  sculptor,  who  seems  to  have  studied 
under  Ageladas  at  Argos,  probably  together  with  Pheidias, 
and  to  have  adopted  the  Argive  '  athletic  '  style.  We  have  fine 
copies  of  two  at  least  of  his  works — the  well-known  Discobolos 
('  Quoit- thrower  ')  and  the  equally  well-known  figure  of  the 
satyr  Marsyas  starting  back  when  confronted  by  Athene. 
This  group  is  described  by  Pliny  and  others,  but  the  second 
figure  was  supposed  to  have  been  irrecoverably  lost.  Not 
many  years  ago  was  discovered  at  Rome  what  almost 
certainly  is  a  copy  of  the  Athene.  It  is  in  Frankfurt,  and 
I  am  fortunate  to  be  able  to  give  a  photograph  of  it  (Fig.  88) . 
The  original  was  in  bronze,  a  material  preferred  by  the 
Argive  school  and  well  adapted  for  statues  representing  violent 
motion — or,  rather,  that  momentary  poise  in  the  midst  of 
motion  which  is  so  conspicuous  a  characteristic  of  Myron's 
works  and  is  selected  by  I^essing  (in  his  Laocoon)  as  an 
essential  characteristic  of  all  great  sculpture. 

SECTION  B  :  AESCHYLUS  :  HERODOTUS  :  PHILOSOPHERS 
OF  THE  PERIOD 

How  the  Attic  drama  originated  in  Doric  dithyrambs  and 
in  '  goat-dances  '  performed  at  vintage  festivals  in  honour  of 
Dionysus,  the  wine-god,  has  been  told,  and  we  have  seen  how 
dialogue  was  introduced  (perhaps  by  Thespis)  between  the 

L 


ANCIENT  GREEiCE 
chorus  and  its  leader,  and  also  how  the  performances  were 
transferred  from  the  vintage  gatherings  *  in  the  marshes ' 
outside  Athens  to  a  primitive  theatre  on  the  south-eastern 
slope  of  the  Acropolis,  where  later  the  great  theatre  of  Dionysus 
was  constructed. 

In  the  time  of  Aeschylus  (525-456)  various  innovations  were 
made,  some  of  them  doubtless  by  him.  A  second  '  hypocrite  ' 
(i.e.  '  answerer,'  or  speaker)  was  added,  so  that  the  narrative 
and  the  '  drama  '  (action)  became  much  developed  and  more 
independent  of  the  chorus,  which  now  fell  more  into  the  back- 
ground. Masks  and  costumes  were  improved  and  the  high 
buskin  [cothurnus,  like  the  Elizabethan  chopin)  introduced. 
Statues,  houses  and  temples,  curtains,  painted  rocks  and  groves 
and  other  scenery,  doors  for  exits  and  entrances,  and  other  such 
stage  apparatus,  began  to  take  the  place  of  the  central  thymele 
(altar)  round  which  the  old  dances  had  been  performed,  and, 
by  about  430,  movable  platforms,  wheeled  or  revolving  on 
pivots,  cranes,  and  other  machinery  for  the  descent  and  ascent 
of  deities,  became  common.  But  to  the  end  the  classical  Attic 
drama  retained  much  of  its  original  scenic  simplicity.  It 
was  always  more  sculpturesque  than  pictorial.  Sophocles 
introduced  a  third,  perhaps  a  fourth,  actor ;  but  this  number 
was  seldom,  if  ever,  exceeded.  Spectacular  effects  seem  to 
have  been  almost  entirely  disregarded,  and  nuances  of  by-play 
and  facial  expression  were  made  impossible  by  the  great  size 
of  the  open-air  theatres  and  by  the  masks  of  the  actors.  The 
one  thing  of  importance — and  it  must  have  been  exceedingly 
difficult,  needing  mechanical  aids — was  audible  and  effective 
recitation  both  of  dialogue  and  of  chorus,  for  text-books  were 
unknown,  and  the  vast  audiences  would  doubtless  be  eager 
to  hear  and  criticize  the  new  versions  of  the  familiar  legends 
that  generally  formed  the  subjects  of  these  dramas.^ 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  Aeschylus  fought  at 

1  The  Persians  of  Aeschylus  was  a  striking  exception.  So  was  the  Capture 
of  Miletus,  by  Phrynichus  (p.  195).  The  knowledge  of  the  audience  and  the 
supposed  ignorance  of  the  characters  in  the  play  as  to  the  approaching  cata- 
strophe allowed  place  to  that  '  dramatic  irony '  which  is  especially  associated 
with  Sophocles. 

310 


w. 


I7.  Probabi,e  Copy  of  tiif.  Phridian 
Athene:  ItICmnia 


Probabi^E  Copy  of 
Myron's  Athene      310 

Marsyas  group 


See  List  of  Illustrations. 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

Marathon,  where  his  brother  Cynaegeirus  was  killed.  Probably 
he  was  present  also  at  Salamis  and  at  Plataea,  and  some  believe 
that  the  '  Ameinias  of  Pallene  '  who  at  Salamis  first  attacked  the 
Persians  was  the  youngest  of  his  brothers.^  He  first  competed 
for  the  tragic  prize  about  499,  and  first  won  it  in  484.  He  is 
believed  to  have  invented  the  '  trilogy  ' — a  group  of  three 
connected,  or  unconnected,  tragedies,  followed  usually  by  a 
semi-comic  '  satyric '  play.  In  468  he  was  defeated  by  the 
young  Sophocles,  amidst  great  public  excitement.  Cimon  in 
this  year  brought  the  bones  of  Theseus  from  Scyros,  and  he 
with  his  nine  fellow-generals  were  asked  to  act  as  judges, 
and  decided  in  favour  of  Sophocles.  It  has  been  said  that 
either  on  this  account  or  because  he  was  beaten  by  Simonides 
in  the  composition  of  the  Marathon  epitaph  (which,  however, 
was  in  489  !),  or  else  because  he  was  accused  of  revealing 
the  Kleusinian  Mysteries  or  of  impious  language  (perhaps  in 
his  Prometheus,  where  Zeus  is  blasphemed),  Aeschylus  withdrew 
to  the  court  of  Hiero  at  Syracuse.  It  seems,  however,  that  he 
had  already  been  in  Syracuse  (about  475-470),  where  he 
must  have  known  Simonides  and  Pindar.  Hiero  died  in  467, 
and  the  poet,  who  was  again  in  Athens  in  465,  returned  to  Sicily 
after  the  production  of  his  Oresteia  at  Athens,  and  died  (456) 
at  Gela — killed,  it  is  said,  by  being  struck  on  the  head  by 
a  tortoise  dropped  by  an  eagle,  in  fulfilment  of  a  prophecy 
that  he  should  perish  by  a  '  stroke  from  heaven.' 

Of  the  seventy  or  more  tragedies  attributed  to  Aeschylus 
we  possess  only  seven  complete,  ^  but  these  seven  are  more  than 
enough  to  prove  that  in  dramatic  power  and  sublimity  he  is, 
with  perhaps  the  one  exception  of  Shakespeare,  the  greatest 
of  poets,  and  in  majesty  and  might  of  language  unrivalled. 
His  plots  are  simple,  and  in  the  earlier  dramas  there  is  a  want 

^  Hdt.  viii.  84,  91  ;    Aesch.  Pars.  409  ;    also  scholia  of  the  Medici  MS. 

^  The  preservation  of  classical  works  is  due  mainly  to  the  critics  and  writers 
of  Alexandria,  where  there  was  a  vast  library  (destroyed  by  Omar  in  a.d.  641) , 
founded  by  the  Ptolemies  (c.  300  B.C.) .  They  chose  what  was  most  popular  and 
what  best  illustrated  their  theories  of  art.  Sophocles  wrote,  it  is  said,  13O 
plays,  of  which  only  seven  are  extant.  Of  Euripides  we  have  about  twenty, 
and  half  the  Hypsipyle,  lately  discovered. 

3" 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
of  movement,  the  chorus  sometimes  being  unduly  prominent 
and  using  exceedingly  obscure  language  ;  but  the  dramatic 
effect  is  often  overpowering.  "  Terror,"  says  Schlegel,  "  is 
his  element,  and  not  the  softer  affections.^  He  holds  up  a 
Medusa's  head  before  the  petrified  spectators."  His  mind 
seems  to  have  been  deeply  imbued  by  awe  of  mysterious 
powers — such  powers  as  we  hear  of  in  the  old  religion  of  Greece 
and  the  Orphic  and  Kleusinian  Mysteries.  ^  There  is  constant 
reference  to  expiation  and  purification  and  the  averting  of 
evil,  to  dreams  and  oracles  and  portents  and  spectral  appari- 
tions and  to  the  ancient  chthonian  (infernal)  deities,  especially 
to  the  primal  Earth-Mother.  In  some  passages,  says  Paley, 
there  is  scarcely  a  word  that  does  not  involve  some  mystic 
doctrine.  In  splendid  contrast  to  this  background  of  gloom, 
with  its  sinister  Fates  and  terrific  Furies,  stand  the  figures  of 
the  gods  of  Olympus,  the  benign  sunHght  deities — Zeus  and 
Apollo  and  Athene.  To  these  also  Aeschylus  pays  reverence, 
but  rather  perhaps  as  personifications  of  Nature  and  agents 
of  those  supreme  spiritual  powers  of  good  and  evil  the  mani- 
festations of  whose  irresistible  will  are  intimated  under  such 
names  as  Fate  and  Destiny  and  Justice  and  Retribution,  and 
that  Infatuation  that  maddens  a  man  and  goads  him  on  to 
insolence  and  impiety  and  tempts  him  to  "  kick  against  the 
altar  of  Righteousness." 

Aeschylus  is  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  aristocratic 
anti-popular  party  of  Aristides  and  Cimon,  and  to  have 
opposed  the  innovations  of  Themistocles.  But  his  glorifica- 
tion of  the  battle  of  Salamis  seems  scarcely  consistent  with  a 
bigoted  anti-naval  poHcy,   and  his  Eumenides  is  not,   as  is 

1  In  the  Frogs  of  Aristophanes  is  an  amusing  scene  (in  Hades)  between 
Aeschylus  and  Euripides,  where  the  claims  of  the  two  poets  are  tested  by 
Dionysus — partly  by  means  of  a  balance  to  weigh  their  verses.  Aeschylus 
boasts  that  "  nobody  ever  accused  him  of  describing  a  woman  in  love."  "  No," 
says  Euripides,  "  there's  nothing  of  Aphrodite  in  you  !  "  "  And  may  there 
never  be  !  "  answers  Aeschylus. 

2  It  is  notable  that  Aeschylus  was  born  at  Eleusis,  and  as  a  child  may  have 
received  many  such  impressions ;  and  this  may  account  for  the  charge  of 
"  revealing  the  mysteries  "  in  his  poetry.  Cicero  says  that  he  was  "  almost  a 
Pythagorean,"  and  certainly  there  is  much  in  his  poetry  that  recalls  Pytha- 
gorean doctrines. 

312 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

sometimes  imagined,  directed  against  the  action  of  the  party 
of  Kphialtes  (p.  292) ,  but  is  rather  a  recognition  of  the  Areopagus 
as  the  supreme  court  for  cases  of  homicide.  His  reverence  for 
the  divine  rights  of  kingship  is  very  perceptible,  and  he  seems 
to  have  been  much  impressed  by  the  magnificence  of  the 
Persian  court.  Indeed,  one  may  perhaps  trace  an  Oriental 
influence  in  some  of  his  imaginings,  which  at  times  are  scarcely 
Greek  in  their  audacity  and  grotesqueness — a  quality  noticed 
by  Aristophanes,  who  makes  Euripides  ridicule  the  '  horse- 
cocks  '  (griffins)  and  '  goat-stags  '  of  Aeschylean  drama. 

No  translation  can  reproduce  the  splendours  and  sublimities 
of  the  verse  of  Aeschylus,  but  some  idea  of  the  greatness  of 
his  dramatic  power  may  be  gained  by  reading  even  an  unpre- 
tentious prose  version,  not  of  selected  passages,  but  of  an 
entire  play,  or,  still  better,  of  the  great  Trilogy — perhaps  the 
mightiest  drama  in  all  literature.  The  pages  of  a  volume  on 
Ancient  Greece  could  scarcely  be  better  filled  than  with  such 
a  version  ;  but  I  shall  have  to  content  myself  with  giving  a 
brief  account  of  the  seven  extant  plays. 

(i)  The  Suppliants  is  probably  the  earliest  extant  Greek 
tragedy.  Some  connect  it  with  the  alliance  of  Athens  and 
Argos  and  the  Egyptian  expedition  of  460-459.  But  from  the 
style  and  the  antique  form  of  the  drama,  which  consists  mainly 
of  chorus,  it  seems  certain  that  the  true  date  is  about  488. 
The  suppliants,  who  form  the  chorus,  are  the  fifty  Danaides 
who  with  their  father.  King  Danaus,  have  fled  from  Egypt  to 
Argos  in  order  to  escape  hated  nuptials  with  their  cousins, 
the  fifty  sons  of  King  Aegyptus.  They  plead  for  protection  as 
descendants  of  Argive  lo,  whose  wanderings  (in  the  form  of 
a  heifer)  had  brought  her  to  Egypt.  Pelasgus,  the  Argive  king, 
grants  their  prayer  and  repels  the  insolent  black  herald  who 
demands  their  surrender.  There  were  only  two  actors,  as 
Danaus  and  the  herald  were  played  by  the  same  person.  The 
trilogy  consisted  of  the  Egyptians,  the  Suppliants,  and  the 
Danaides.  In  the  last  the  Danaides  were,  it  is  believed,  tried 
for  the  murder  of  their  cousins  (whom  after  all  they  had  been 
compelled  to  marry),  and  were  seemingly  acquitted,  although 

313 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

according  to  the  well-known  legend  they  suffered  punishment 
in  Hades.  It  is  unlikely  that  Aeschylus  introduced  the  senti- 
mental exception  of  Hypermnestra,  who  alone — splendide 
mendax — out  of  pity  or  love,  is  said  to  have  disobeyed  her 
father  and  spared  her  husband  (Hor.  C.  Ill,  xi.). 

(2)  The  Seven  against  Thebes  (467)  was  preceded  in  a  trilogy 
by  Laws  and  Oedipus,  and  followed  by  a  satyric  play,  the 
Sphinx.  For  the  story  of  the  expedition  of  the  seven  heroes 
see  p.  33.  In  the  Frogs  of  Aristophanes  Aeschylus  describes 
it  as  a  play  "cram-full  of  Ares."  The  moment  chosen  is  that 
of  the  assault  on  the  city.  After  a  long  and  vivid  report  by  a 
messenger  who  describes  the  assailing  host  to  the  chorus  of 
Theban  women  and  the  king,  Eteocles  stations  a  Theban  hero 
at  each  of  the  seven  gates,  and,  goaded  by  the  Krinys  of  a 
father's  curse,  in  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  the  chorus  and 
his  own  foreknowledge  of  inevitable  death,  determines  to  meet 
his  brother  Polyneices  in  mortal  combat,  in  which  both  are 
slain.  Antigone  and  Ismene  then  appear,  mourning  their 
brothers  in  a  very  beautiful  and  pathetic  lamentation,  in  which 
the  younger  echoes  in  somewhat  different  form  the  broken 
utterances  of  the  elder  sister.  In  defiance  of  the  proclamation 
of  the  new  ''ruler  of  the  Cadmean  city''  (Creon),  Antigone 
now  states  her  determination  to  bury  Polyneices,  her  brother. 
Thus  we  are  brought  to  the  moment  with  which  the  Antigone 
of  Sophocles  opens  ;  and  modern  criticism  gravely  (and  perhaps 
not  unreasonably)  suspects  that  this  last  scene  may  have 
been  added  by  some  later  writer  in  order  to  link  the  Seven  up 
with  the  Sophoclean  play. 

(3)  The  Persae  is  the  only  extant  Greek  tragedy  dealing 
with  contemporary  history.  It  was  performed  at  Athens 
(with  other  plays  on  legendary  subjects)  about  eight  years 
after  the  battle  of  Salamis.  Possibly  it  was  written  in  Sicily 
for  King  Hiero  and  first  performed  at  Syracuse.  The  scene  is 
laid  in  Persia,  in  front  of  the  tomb  of  Darius  (Fig.  73  and  p.  194), 
near  Persepolis,^  where,  awaiting  Queen  Atossa,  is  collected  a 

1  The  "  city  of  the  Persians  "  (1.  15)  may,  I  think,  be  Persepolis  ;  but  Susa 
and  EJcbatana  are  alone  mentioned  by  name. 

314 


89-91.  Three  possible  Copies  of  the  Pheidian  Athene  314 

See  List  of  Illustrations 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

band  of  twelve  elders — *  Faithfuls.'  They  chant  of  the  crossing 
of  the  Hellespont  and  of  the  innumerable  host  that  has  accom- 
panied Xerxes  to  Greece,  but  express  their  anxiety  at  hearing 
no  news.  The  mother- queen  Atossa  approaches.  She  too  is 
full  of  anxiety  about  her  son  Xerxes,  and  has  been  disturbed 
by  strange  dreams,  and  will  offer  libations  at  the  tomb  of  her 
deified  husband.  A  messenger  now  arrives  and  relates  the 
disasters  of  the  Persians.  The  descriptions  of  the  battle  of 
Salamis  and  the  terrified  flight  of  Xerxes  and  the  catastrophe 
at  the  river  Strymon  (see  p.  267)  are  exceedingly  fine,  and 
most  interesting  as  the  earliest  picture  that  we  possess  of 
any  great  historical  event  in  Greek  history — if  we  exclude 
the  Homeric  poems  !  The  ghost  of  Darius  now  rises  from 
the  tomb,  and  to  him  Atossa  recounts  the  disastrous  story 
of  the  invasion,  whereat  the  spirit  of  the  Great  King,  full  of 
mourning  and  of  wrath  at  the  folly  of  his  son,  prophesies  the 
utter  defeat  of  the  Persians  at  Plataea — being  able,  as  are 
the  spirits  in  Dante's  Inferno,  to  foresee  the  future,  though 
ignorant  of  the  present.  After  the  disappearance  of  the  ghost 
of  Darius,  Xerxes  and  his  retinue  arrive  in  a  pitiable  state 
of  despair  and  terror,  and  the  play  ends  amidst  their  heart- 
rending lamentations — a  scene  that,  however  unhistorical, 
must  have  highly  delighted  an  Athenian  audience.  ^ 

(4)  Prometheus  Bound  was  written  perhaps  a  few  years 
after  the  great  eruption  of  Aetna  (c.  478;  see  Thuc.  iii.  116), 
which  is  mentioned  prophetically  (1.  375).  But  the  highly 
developed  form  of  the  play,  with  its  finely  finished  metrical 
and  rhetorical  language  and  the  predominance  of  the  dramatic 
over  the  lyrical  element,  and  the  possibility  of  a  third  actor 
(though  Prometheus  may  have  been  an  effigy),  as  well  as 
the  probable  use  of  stage  machinery  {e.g.  in  the  case  of  the 
ocean  nymphs,  whose  advent  is  heralded  by  the  flutter  of 
wings),  has  induced  some  to  give  it  a  much  later  date  and  even 
needlessly  to  question  its  authenticity. 

^  In  the  Frogs  Dionysus  exclaims  (<i  propos  of  the  Persae)  :  "  Ay,  truly, 
and  I  was  delighted  when  news  was  brought  of  the  death  of  Darius."  There 
seems  some  slight  error  here. 

31S 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

The  other  plays  of  the  trilogy  were  the  Fire-bearing 
Prometheus  and  the  Loosing  of  Prometheus.  Of  the  last  some 
fragments  survive,  as  well  as  a  I^atin  version  by  Cicero  of 
about  thirty  lines — enough  to  prove  that  we  have  lost  a 
magnificent  Greek  drama  on  the  same  subject  as  Shelley's 
very  un-Greek  Prometheus  Unbound.  The  fable  of  Prometheus 
(with  whom  Bpimetheus  and  Pandora  are  sometimes  asso- 
ciated) is  of  great  antiquity  and  probably  of  Eastern  origin. 
Aeschylus  borrows  names  and  the  main  features  of  his  picture 
from  Hesiod's  Theogonia.  He  depicts  the  Titan,  a  divinity 
of  the  old  dynasty  of  Cronos  and  the  benefactor  of  the  human 
race,  fettered  to  the  side  of  a  precipice  in  the  Caucasus,  but 
still  defying  the  power  of  Zeus  and  refusing  to  divulge 
the  oracle  of  Themis  which  threatened  the  overthrow  of  the 
usurping  Olympian  deity.  Prometheus  is  visited  by  the 
ocean  nymphs  and  their  father  Oceanus.  To  him  he  recounts 
all  the  blessings  of  civilization  (letters,  numbers,  astronomy, 
houses,  horses,  ships,  &c.)  that  he  had  brought  to  mortals, 
whom  he  depicts  as  having  been  weak  and  miserable  and 
living  "  like  frail  ants  in  sunless  caverns  "  before  his  gift  of 
fire,^  and  he  refuses  the  counsel  of  the  sea-god  to  make  peace 
with  Zeus.  Then  lo,  who  has  also  been  greatly  wronged  by 
Zeus  and  is  now  in  the  form  of  a  heifer  wandering  through 
the  world  (from  Argos  to  Egypt  via  the  Caucasus),  appears 
on  the  scene.  She  relates  her  wanderings  and  Prometheus 
foretells  her  future,  and  how  her  progeny  (the  Danaides)  will 
return  to  Argos,  and  how  an  Argive  hero  (Heracles,  a  son  of 
Zeus)  will  come  to  set  him  free,  and  how  Zeus  himself  will  have 
to  appeal  to  him  for  help — power  and  deity  have  to  appeal  to 
knowledge.  Hermes  then  visits  him,  but  his  arrogant  behests 
are  repelled  with  scorn,  and  amidst  a  terrific  storm  and  earth-  I 
quake  the  drama  ends.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  although  ' 
the  real  scene  of  the  sufferings  of  Prometheus  was,  according 
to  scholiasts,  the  *'  European  shores  of  the  Ocean/'  the  spot 

^  The  golden  age  of  Cronos  seems  inconsistent  with  this.  Horace  and 
others  attribute  diseases  and  degeneration  to  the  advent  of  fire  and  the 
gifts  of  Pandora.   The  fable  has  analogy  to  that  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge. 

316 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

intimated  by  Aeschylus  (Scythia  is  mentioned  in  our  play, 
and  the  Caucasus  in  a  fragment  of  the  Loosing)  became  so 
locaHzed  that  Pompey  the  Great  during  the  Mithridatic  war 
undertook  a  long  journey  in  order  to  visit  it. 

(5)  The  Oresteia,  or  '  Story  of  Orestes/  consisting  of  the 
Agamemnon,  the  Choephoroe  ('  lyibation-carriers '),  and  the 
Eumenides  ('  Furies '),  won  the  first  prize  in  458.  Soon 
afterwards  Aeschylus  went  for  the  second  time  to  Sicily, 
probably  in  order  to  produce  the  play  there  also.  It  is  the 
only  extant  Greek  trilogy.  The  (lost)  satyric  play  by  which 
it  was  followed  was  Proteus,  which  probably  depicted  the 
entertaining  adventure  of  Menelaus  among  the  seals.  ^ 

The  Agamemnon  Jopens  with  the  monologue  of  the  sentinel 
who  so  long  has  watched  at  night  for  fire-beacons  announcing 
the  fall  of  Troy.  Suddenly  the  signal  flashes  in  the  far  distance, 
and  he  hurries  forth  to  the  queen.  A  band  of  Argive  elders 
enters.  In  an  ode  of  great  sublimity  they  sing  of  the  long, 
disastrous  war,  and  of  portents  and  of  the  direful  curse  that 
broods  over  the  house  of  Pelops.  Clytaemnestra  now  appears 
and  exultingly  proclaims  the  capture  of  Troy  and  the  return 
of  the  king  ;  but  our  suspicions  are  aroused  by  the  gloomy 
chants  of  the  elders,  who  forebode  some  terrible  catastrophe. 
A  herald  arrives.  He  describes  the  sack  of  Troy  and  then 
announces  the  approach  of  Agamemnon,  who  ere  long  ap- 
pears, followed  by  chariots  laden  with  spoil  and  by  captives, 
among  whom  is  Priam's  daughter,  the  prophetess  Cassandra. 
Clytaemnestra  welcomes  her  husband  with  feigned  joy  and 
reverence,  and  offers  friendly  words  to  her  hated  rival, 
Cassandra.  The  chorus  once  more  utters  its  dark  forebodings, 
and  Cassandra,  foreseeing  the  impending  terrors  and  her 
own  fate,  breaks  forth  into  lamentation  and  describes  the 
ghastly  visions  that  she  sees  in  her  ecstasy.     Then  she  rushes 

1  Od.  iv.  The  only  extant  satyric  play  is  the  Cyclops  by  Kuripides.  The 
subjects  of  these  lighter  plays  were  often  taken  from  Homer  ;  e.g.  Nausicaa, 
or  The  Washerwomen.  It  is  noticeable  that  Aeschylus  wrote  the  Oresteia 
at  an  age  (sixty-seven)  when  nowadays  men  are  regarded  as  past  work, 
especially  creative  work.  Sophocles  wrote  many  of  his  finest  plays  between 
his  sixty-fifth  and  ninetieth  years. 

317 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
into  the  palace  to  meet  her  fate,  while  from  behind  the  scenes 
we  hear  the  groans  of  the  murdered  king.  The  palace  door 
opens  and  we  see  Clytaemnestra  standing  by  the  body  of  her 
murdered  husband  and  hear  her  proudly,  insolently,  confess 
the  crime  and  justify  it  as  righteous  requital  for  the  sacrifice 
of  her  daughter  Iphigeneia.  Here  she  is  joined  by  Aegisthus, 
her  accompHce  in  infidelity  and  murder,  amidst  whose  fierce 
altercation  with  the  elders  the  drama  ends. 

The  Choephoroe  tells  the  same  story  as  the  Eledra  of  Sopho- 
cles and  of  Euripides  (to  which  it  forms  a  most  interesting 
contrast) — namely,  the  return  of  Orestes  (who  had  been  sent 
away  to  Phocis  when  a  child  by  his  mother  Clytaemnestra), 
the  recognition  of  him  by  his  sister  Blectra,  and  the  slaying 
of  the  queen  together  with  her  paramour  by  her  own  son, 
who  has  brought  her  the  false  tidings  of  his  own  death. 
The  character  of  Klectra  is  wonderfully  drawn,  and  that  of 
Clytaemnestra  is  perhaps  even  more  impressive  in  its  defiant 
pride  and  almost  majestic  lyady-Macbeth-like  insolence  than 
in  the  Agamemnon.  The  '  libation-carriers  '  are  the  maidens 
who,  together  with  Electra,  have  been  ordered  by  the  queen, 
because  of  an  evil  dream,  to  make  offerings  at  the  tomb  of 
Agamemnon — probably  in  Mycenae.  The  drama  ends  by  a 
vision  of  the  Furies,  beheld  by  Orestes,  who  flees  in  terror 
before  them. 

The  opening  scene  of  the  Eumenides  is  before  the  great 
temple  at  Delphi.  The  aged  Pythian  priestess  enters  the 
shrine  to  offer  prayers  to  the  goddess  Earth  and  other  ancient 
deities  and  then  to  take  her  seat  on  the  oracular  tripod.  She 
returns  terrified  and  scarce  able  to  say  what  she  has  seen  : 
a  suppliant  at  the  central  altar,  his  hands  and  sword  dripping 
with  blood,  closely  surrounded  by  a  band  of  slumbering 
monstrous  forms — like  Gorgons  or  Harpies,  but  wingless, 
black,  distilling  filthy  ooze  from  their  eyes  and  snorting  forth 
in  sleep  their  fetid  breath.  She  has  scarce  ended  when  Apollo 
comes  forth  leading  Orestes.  He  promises  him  safeguard  to 
Athens,  entrusting  him  to  the  care  of  Hermes.  The  temple 
door  has  remained  open,  and  within  we  see  the  Furies  lying 

3i8 


THE  ATHENIAN  EMPIRE 
asleep  around  the  central  altar — the  '*  navel  of  the  earth  " — 
above  which  arises  a  spectral  form,  the  ghost  of  Clytaemnestra, 
which  calls  on  the  sleepers  to  awake  and  pursue.  With 
horrid  moans  and  groans  they  answer,  still  asleep  ;  then, 
waking,  they  find  their  victim  fled,  and  chanting  their  terrible 
song  they  dance  wildly  round  the  altar,  till  Apollo  drives 
them  forth  from  his  temple.  The  scene  now  changes.  Orestes 
is  embracing  the  statue  before  Athene's  temple  on  the 
Athenian  Acropolis.  The  Furies  arrive  and  claim  their 
victim,  uttering  their  terrible  cry  for  vengeance  in  a 
magnificent  hymn  in  which  they  chant  of  sin  and  inexorable 
retribution.  But  Athene  appears  in  her  four-horse  chariot. 
She  bids  the  herald  summon  the  council  of  the  Areopagus, 
''  the  best  of  my  citizens."  Perhaps  the  scene  is  supposed  to 
be  changed  to  the  '  hill  of  Ares '  (or  rather  '  of  Curses ' — 
i.e.  of  the  Avenging  Goddesses).  Apollo  appears  to  advocate 
the  cause  of  Orestes  against  the  accusing  Furies.  The  judges 
cast  their  ballots  into  the  two  urns.  The  votes  are  equal. 
Athene  gives  the  verdict  in  favour  of  Orestes,  and  the 
rage  of  the  Furies  against  the  '  younger  deities '  is  allayed, 
and  even  their  blessings  are  elicited,  by  the  promise  of  Athene 
to  assign  them  a  special  sanctuary  "  near  the  house  of 
Erechtheus  "  (probably  in  the  dark  cleft  still  existing  amid 
the  north-eastern  crags  of  the  Areopagus).  Here  they  are  to 
be  worshipped  as  the  '  Eumenides,'  or  '  Kindly  Goddesses.' 

Herodotus 

The  passages  that  have  been  quoted  from  Herodotus  in 
connexion  with  the  Persian  invasions  will  have  shown,  to 
some  extent,  the  character  of  his  work.  Much  has  been 
written  about  it,  both  in  praise  and  in  depreciation,  but  for 
those  who  care  to  read  the  book  itself — of  which  there  are 
good  annotated  translations — such  criticism  is  mostly  super- 
fluous. Here  I  shall  content  myself  with  offering  a  few 
biographical  data  and  a  few  general  remarks. 

As  historian  Herodotus  was  preceded  by  Hecataeus  of 
Miletus  and  Hellanicus  of  Mytilene.     The  former  has  already 

319 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

been  mentioned  in  connexion  with  the  Ionic  revolt  and  as 
having  written  a  geography  [Travels  round  the  Earth)  for  the 
map  or  globe  of  Anaximander.  His  history  is  mentioned 
several  times  by  Herodotus,  who  also  speaks  of  his  having 
been  in  Egypt.  The  '  Attic  history  '  of  Hellanicus  is  men- 
tioned by  Thucydides. 

Herodotus,  who  tells  us  (ii.  143)  that  he  was  not  accus- 
tomed to  ''  boast  of  his  family,"  was  born  (c.  484)  in  the 
Dorian  city  of  Halicarnassus  in  Caria,  whence  he  withdrew, 
or  was  banished,  in  consequence  of  a  revolt  against  the 
ruler,  or  tyrant,  I^ygdamis — the  grandson  of  that  Queen 
Artemisia  whose  courage  at  Salamis  was  so  admired  by 
Xerxes,  and  also  b}''  his  historian.  Probably  in  Samos  or 
I/Csbos  he  acquired  the  Ionic  dialect  in  which  he  wrote — 
apparently  a  selection  from  the  four  forms  of  the  ordinary 
Ionic  combined  with  Attic  and  epic  elements.  His  travels 
extended  to  Scythia  (nearly  to  the  Crimea),  Babylon,  and 
Elephantine  (near  Assouan).  He  seems  to  have  returned 
to  Halicarnassus  and  aided  in  expelling  I^ygdamis.  His 
evident  admiration  for  Athens  seems  to  confirm  the  assertion 
that  he  lived  there,  under  the  patronage  of  Pericles,  for  some 
time.  It  is  even  stated  that  the  Athenians  presented  him 
with  ten  talents  (some  £2500)  for  reciting  his  history  at  the 
Panathenaea  [c.  446) .  Also  perhaps  he  recited  it  at  Olympia  ; 
and  Thucydides,  then  a  boy,  is  said  to  have  been  present — 
and  to  have  shed  tears  ;  but  chronology  makes  this  improb- 
able. In  444-443  the  Athenians  and  the  cityless  Sybarites 
founded  Thurii,  close  to  the  site  of  ruined  Sybaris,  and 
Herodotus  may  have  been  among  the  first  colonists.  He 
may  also  have  composed  his  history  (from  previous  notes) 
at  Thurii,  and  perhaps  he  died  there  about  426.  Some  say 
that  he  (as  also  the  orator  I^ysias)  returned  to  Greece,  and 
that  he  died  at  Pella,  in  Macedonia.  From  his  mention 
(i.  130)  of  a  revolt  of  the  Medes  against  Darius,  which  was 
thought  to  be  the  revolt  of  408  against  Darius  II,  instead  of 
the  earlier  revolt  against  Darius  Hystaspes,  it  has  been  wrongly 
believed  that  Herodotus  lived  until  nearly  the  end  of  the 
320 


THE   ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

Peloponnesian  War.  In  spite  of  all  the  sins  of  omission  and 
commission  laid  to  his  charge  by  the  modern  historical 
critic — his  inaccuracies,  his  credulity,  his  reverence  for 
prophecies  and  oracles,  his  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  images 
and  prayer  and  sacrifice,  his  tendency  to  seek  for  supernatural 
causes,  his  partiality,  and  so  on  ^ — this  "  naive,  uncritical, 
entrancing  story-teller  *'  possesses  gifts  that  many  a  more 
scientific  chronicler  might  well  envy.  By  his  keen  powers 
of  observation  he  has  collected  an  immense  amount  of  interest- 
ing and  curious  information  in  regard  not  merely  to  events 
but  also  to  customs  and  character  and  cities  and  countries, 
and  much  else,  and,  what  is  of  even  greater  importance,  his 
human  sympathies  allow  him  an  insight  into  the  true  causes 
of  things  which  Thucydides,  with  all  his  skilful  analysis  of 
secondary  and  superficial  motives,  does  not  possess.  The 
great  agent  in  shaping  outward  circumstances,  as  Professor 
Butcher  says,  is  the  human  will.  But  human  will  is  pro- 
foundly influenced  by  beliefs  and  feelings  that  lie  very  deep 
in  human  nature,  and  into  these  depths  mere  critical  acumen 
has  no  such  insight  as  that  which  is  sometimes  vouchsafed 
to  the  '  naive  *  and  sympathetic  spirit. 

Philosophers  of  the  Period 

The  Eleatic  philosophers  Parmenides  and  Zeno  have  already 
been  mentioned  as  followers  of  Xenophanes  (p.  208),  and  it 
has  been  shown  how  his  doctrine  of  the  one  eternal  and  im- 
mutable Reality,  the  source  and  cause  of  all  the  natural 
universe,  degenerated  in  course  of  time  into  a  barren  denial 
of  the  existence  (even  the  temporal,  practical  existence)  of 
sensible  things,  and  of  the  possibility  of  motion.  With  Par- 
menides the  sublime  philosophy  of  his  master  still  retained 
much  of  its  elevation  and  aroused  the  reverent  admiration  of 
Socrates  and  of  Plato,  who  speaks  of  his  "  wondrous  depth." 
As  an  old  man  Parmenides  is  said  to  have  visited  Athens 

1  Sometimes  he  ventures  to  express  a  doubt  [e.g.  "  or  perhaps  the  wind  ceased 
of  itself  "),  or  prays  gods  and  heroes  to  forgive  his  scepticism.  He  was  very 
far  removed  from  a  credulous  fool  or  a  bigot.  "  My  duty,"  he  says,  "  is  to 
report  all  that  is  said,  but  I  am  not  obliged  to  believe  it  all." 

X  321 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

{c.  448),  and  Plato  describes  (possibly  invents)  a  very  interest- 
ing interview  in  whicli  Socrates,  then  quite  a  young  man, 
imparts  to  him  his  newly  conceived  Ideal  theory  and  is  en- 
couraged by  him  to  develop  and  apply  it  more  boldly.  Indeed, 
it  was  the  Bleatic  behef  in  the  one  immaterial  Reality — 
involving  the  denial  of  the  absolute  reality  of  sensible  objects 
— that  was  the  foundation  of  the  Socratic  (or  Platonic)  beUef 
in  the  divine  Will  as  the  one  true  cause  of  all  things.  This 
denial  of  the  real  existence  of  natural  objects  has  ever  en- 
countered the  ridicule  of  the  uninitiated,  but,  "  paradoxical 
as  it  may  appear,  this  insistence  on  the  unreality  of  the  sensible 
world  is  the  only  way  in  which  worth  and  meaning  can  be 
given  to  it."  Misunderstood,  it  leads  to  all  kinds  of  extrava- 
gant absurdities,  as  it  did  in  the  case  of  Zeno,  who  wasted  his 
energies  on  endless  intellectual  puzzles  and  quibbles  about 
the  impossibility  of  motion  and  the  non-existence  of  place 
and  so  on.  He  is  interesting  merely  because  the  Sophists 
were  (though  they  may  not  have  acknowledged  it)  his  lineal 
descendants.  With  them,  as  with  him,  there  was  no  absolute 
truth,  and  consequently  no  absolute  knowledge.  Their  highest 
object  was  intellectualism  and  rhetorical  artifice — that  art 
of  Belial,  "  to  make  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason." 

Zeno  is  said  to  have  accompanied  Parmenides  to  Athens  in 
448,  and  to  have  been  at  that  time  about  forty  years  of  age. 
The  only  important  literary  relics  of  these  two  Bleatics  are 
about  a  hundred  hexameters  by  Parmenides,  besides  a  I^atin 
version  of  about  fifty  more.  In  one  fragment  he  offers  us  a 
fine  imaginative  picture — a  vision  in  which  he  is  borne  aloft, 
in  a  chariot  drawn  by  the  horses  of  Wisdom,  out  of  the  night 
of  Ignorance  and  through  the  portal  of  the  goddess  Justice, 
up  into  the  sunlit  realm  of  Knowledge.  In  other  fragments 
he  insists  again  and  again  on  the  existence  of  the  One  and  the 
non-existence  of  the  Many,  and  he  asserts  that  all  sensible 
things  are  resultants  produced  by  two  counteracting  principles, 
such  as  cold  and  heat,  darkness  and  light,  force  and  inertia. 

Kmpedocles  of  Acragas,  the  last  of  the  great  colonial  sages, 
was  a  man  of  supreme  intellectual  powers  and  of  a  most  extra- 
322 


THE    ATHENIAN    EMPIRE 

ordinary  character.  His  personality  is  half  hidden  in  fable, 
for  he  claimed  supernatural  powers  as  a  divinity  exiled  for 
a  time  from  heaven,  and  was  reverenced  as  such.  Mounted 
on  a  chariot,  clad  in  purple  robes,  and  crowned  with  Delphic 
laurel  and  with  gold,  he  made  triumphal  progress  through 
Sicily.  Many  miracles  of  healing  are  attributed  to  him.  It 
is  even  said  that  he  raised  the  dead.  By  his  art — perhaps  by 
draining  a  marsh — Selinus  was  freed  from  pestilence  (see  coin  5, 
Plate  IV).  Some  assert  that  he  threw  himself  into  the  crater 
of  Aetna  (as  happens  in  Matthew  Arnold's  poem)  to  solve  the 
mystery  of  existence.  Others  say  that  after  a  banquet,  when 
all  his  companions  had  fallen  asleep,  he  disappeared,  and,  like 
Elijah,  was  borne  aloft  to  heaven.  The  modern  critic  is  more 
inclined  to  accept  the  statement  of  Timaeus,  the  historian  of 
Sicily,  that  he  took  ship  for  the  Peloponnese  and  died  there. 
That  he  was  a  great  poet  is  proved  by  the  magnificent  eulogy 
addressed  to  him  by  I^ucretius,  and  also  by  a  fragment  of  about 
470  lines  from  his  poem  on  Nature,  which  is  grand  in  language 
and  contains  some  highly  imaginative  metaphors.  His  philo- 
sophy seems  to  have  combined  some  of  the  main  doctrines  of 
the  Ionic,  Bleatic,  and  Pythagorean  schools.  lyike  Xenophanes 
he  believed  in  the  one  real  existence,  and  denied  the  testi- 
mony of  the  senses  to  be  absolutely  true.  He  developed  a 
cosmology,  founded  on  the  four  elements.  These  elements, 
however,  are  not  *  self -created  '  or  '  self -moving,'  as  with  the 
old  Ionic  sages  ;  they  are  mere  material  {v\ri)  subject  to  the 
influence  of  immaterial  forces,  which  he  named  *  love  '  and 
'  hate,'  the  attraction  and  repulsion  caused  by  which  set  up 
an  eddying  motion  and  thus  formed  the  natural  world  out  of 
chaos.  Should  '  love  '  finally  conquer,  the  world  would  relapse 
into  a  state  {airoLov)  where  there  is  no  counteraction,  no  contra- 
distinction, no  genus  or  species  or  other  differentiation,  and 
where  everything  is  everything  else.  He  seems  to  have  origi- 
nated the  theory  of  '  emanations '  (adopted  by  Democritus,  and 
described  by  lyucretius) — that  is,  the  giving  off  by  natural 
objects  of  minute  particles  that  affect  those  elements  of  our 
sense-organs  which  are  of  the  same  nature.     Hence  the  doctrine 

323 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

"  lyike  is  affected  by  like,"  which  was  later  applied  even  to 
things  immaterial — as  by  Plato  to  the  relation  between  the 
intellect  and  its  cognate  Ideas. 

The  attribution  of  affections  and  will  to  elemental  matter 
(or  to  prime  monads,  i.e.  atoms)  converted  the  universe,  so  to 
speak,  into  a  living  and  sensitive  thing,  such  as  Virgil  describes 
in  a  celebrated  passage  (Aen.  vi.  723  sq.),  but  was  in  reahty 
no  more  intelligible  than  the  old  Ionic  doctrine  of  self-created 
and  self -moving  prime  elements.  The  one  great  difficulty 
remained,  and  for  the  materialist  still  remains,  viz.  to  account 
for  this  omnipresent  Will  or  Energy  in  Nature.  *'  Amid  the 
mysteries,''  says  Herbert  Spencer,  "  that  become  the  more 
mysterious  the  more  they  are  thought  about,  there  will  remain 
the  one  absolute  certainty  that  we  are  ever  in  the  presence 
of  an  infinite  and  eternal  energy  from  which  all  things  proceed." 
To  attempt  to  explain  it  as  due  to  chemical  affinity,  gravity, 
magnetism,  or  any  such  natural  force  does  not  in  the  least 
help  towards  a  solution.  We  still  ask  :  Whence  comes  the 
force  that  causes  these  physical  manifestations  ? 

It  was  Anaxagoras  who  first  gave  a  definite  answer  to  this 
question.  He  held,  indeed,  that  matter  was  eternal,  infinite, 
indestructible,  and  uncreated  (for  his  mind  refused  to  believe 
in  "  creation  from  nothing  "),  but  he  believed  that  it  existed 
originally  in  a  chaotic  state  in  which  "  all  things  were  to- 
gether [ojuLou]  " — that  is,  not  differentiated  and  distinguishable 
— until  "  Mind  [N0O9]  came  and  arranged  them  into  a  Cosmos." 
This  Mind,  or  IntelHgence,  is  conceived  by  Anaxagoras  as 
not  immanent  in  matter,  far  less  as  identical  with  matter, 
but  as  an  immaterial  ordering  Will,  self -existent  (e0'  eavrov), 
omniscient,  and  "  with  supreme  lordship  over  all  things." 
Thus  we  have  no  longer  a  materialistic  explanation  of  the 
universe  (which,  in  spite  of  their  doctrines  in  regard  to  the 
Deity,  was  still  apparently  held  by  Xenophanes  and  others 
like  him),  and  no  longer  a  Monistic  identification  of  mind 
and  matter,  nor  even  such  '  Higher  Pantheism '  as  that 
described  by  Tennyson,  but  a  distinct  confession  of  a  spiritual 
cause  of  the  ordered  universe. 

324 


THE   ATHENIAN    EMP{IR[E 

Both  Plato  and  Aristotle,  however,  complain  that  Anaxa- 
goras  (as  is  the  case  with  many  of  us)  only  called  in  this  divine 
Intelligence  when  in  difficulties — so  that  Socrates  is  said  (in  the 
Phaedo)  to  have  given  up  the  study  of  his  works  because  the 
writer  had  not  the  courage  to  apply  his  own  doctrine  in  physical 
questions.  But,  timid  guess  as  it  was,  it  was  apparently  the 
first  conception  by  a  Greek  thinker  of  a  God  of  infinite  power 
and  goodness,  such  as  was  proclaimed  by  Socrates,  so  that 
we  cannot  be  surprised  at  the  words  of  Aristotle  :  '*  When  one 
of  them  said  that  there  is  in  Nature  an  Intelligence  that  is  the 
cause  of  the  order  of  the  universe,  this  man  appears  alone  to 
have  been  sober  among  the  wild  speculations  of  his  prede- 
cessors." 

Anaxagoras  (c.  500-428)  was  a  native  of  Clazomenae,  in 
Ionia.  Probably  soon  after  the  battle  of  Salamis  he  went 
to  Athens,  where  he  lived  for  about  thirty  years.  He  was  an 
intimate  friend  of  Pericles,  and  his  teachings  exercised  great 
influence  on  Euripides.  In  450  he  was  accused  of  impiety 
by  the  Athenian  mob  and  the  high-priests  of  Olympian  ortho- 
doxy, and  only  escaped  death  by  the  eloquent  pleadings  of 
Pericles.     He  retired  to  I^ampsacus,  where  he  died  in  428. 


32s 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

(431-404) 

SECTIONS :  THUCYDIDKS  :  SOPHOCI^BS,  EURIPIDBS,  ARISTO- 
PHANES :  DEMOCRITUS,  THE  SOPHISTS,  SOCRATES : 
SCUI^PTURE 

IN  445  a  Thirty  Years'  Peace  had  been  concluded  between 
the  Athenians  and  the  Peloponnesians,  who  had  been 
in  a  state  of  almost  continuous  hostility  for  about 
fifteen  years.  This  peace  had  lasted  only  some  twelve  years — 
those  years  during  which  the  Parthenon  and  the  third  I^ong 
Wall  of  Athens  and  the  docks  and  marts  of  the  Peiraeus  were 
built- — when  events  occurred  that  led  to  the  declaration  of 
war  by  Sparta.  The  conflict  lasted  for  about  twenty-seven 
years.  After  the  first  ten  years  of  ineffectual  warfare,  consist- 
ing mainly  of  such  reprisals  as  were  possible  between  a  maritime 
and  a  land  power,  a  respite  was  given  by  the  Peace  of  Nicias 
(421),  but  the  break  was  so  short  that,  with  Thucydides,  we 
may  regard  the  war  as  scarcely  interrupted.  Hostilities  were 
soon  renewed.  Had  the  Athenians  remained  true  to  the  policy 
of  Pericles  and  renounced  all  ambitious  attempts  to  increase 
their  oversea  empire,  they  might  have  retained  their  maritime 
supremacy ;  but,  under  the  influence  of  such  demagogues  and 
adventurers  as  Cleon  and  Alcibiades,  they  embarked  on  the 
disastrous  SiciHan  expedition  (415),  by  which,  and  by  the  revolt 
of  almost  all  their  allies,  their  power  was  fatally  undermined 
and  rapidly  sank,  until  Sparta,  which  had  built  ships  and  had 
even  stooped  to  solicit  the  powerful  aid  of  Persia  against  the 
*  enslaver  of  Greece,'  crushed  the  Athenian  fleet  at  the  battle 
of  Aegospotami,  captured  Athens,  razed  her  lyong  Walls,  and 
put  an  end  to  her  empire  (404). 
326 


92.  The  '  Meidias  Vase  ' 

See  last  of  Illustrations 


326 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

The  story  of  this  Peloponnesian  War  (as  we  call  it,  regarding 
it  from  the  Athenian  point  of  view)  is  told  very  fully  by  Thucy- 
dides  down  to  the  year  411,  and  is  continued  by  Xenophon 
in  his  Hellenica.  I^ater  historians  have  repeated,  sometimes 
with  a  vast  amount  of  comment,  all  the  details  of  every  little 
skirmish  or  poHtical  compHcation.  Doubtless  during  these 
twenty-seven  years  many  heroic  deeds  were  done,  and  some 
memorable  events  took  place,  as  well  as  many  that  every  true 
lover  of  Greece  would  gladly  forget ;  but  there  is  a  very  great 
deal  to  be  found  in  the  hundreds  of  pages  often  devoted  to 
this  war  which  is  for  us  of  no  importance  whatever — except 
when  we  associate  it  with  memories  of  Thucydides.  All  these 
miserable  fightings  and  butcheries,  all  this  hateful  intestine 
strife  and  hatred  and  treason  and  inhumanity,  bulk  so  largely 
in  the  ordinary  Greek  history  because  they  have  been  recounted 
by  a  writer  perhaps  unrivalled  for  graphic  description,  for 
brilliant  rhetoric,  and  for  powers  of  subtle  analysis.  I  do 
not  purpose  to  make  any  attempt  to  describe  fully  the 
details  of  the  war,  but  shall  give  a  concise  statement  of  the 
chief  events  of  this  period  and  then  some  descriptive  passages 
from  Thucydides. 

The  Peloponnesian  War  (431-404) 

In  the  last  chapter  we  followed  the  course  of  events  down 
to  the  revolt  and  reduction  of  Samos  in  439,  Some  five  years 
later  incidents  occurred  in  connexion  with  two  Corinthian 
colonies,  Corcyra  and  Potidaea,  which  (as  Corinth  was  the 
great  maritime  rival  of  Athens)  induced  the  Athenians  to 
interfere,  and  led  to  remonstrance  and  finally  an  ultimatum 
from  Sparta,  as  the  head  of  the  Peloponnesian  league  and  the 
champion  of  the  Hberties  of  Greece. 

The  trouble  began  at  Bpidamnus  (Dyrrhachium,  in  Illyria) , 
a  colony  of  Corcyra  (Corfu).  The  Bpidamnians,  harassed  by 
exiled  oligarchs,  appealed  to  Corcyra,  and,  obtaining  no  aid, 
with  the  advice  of  the  Delphic  oracle  turned  to  Corinth, 
which  sent  them  troops.  The  Corey raeans  forthwith  blockaded 
Kpidamnus.  Corinth  sent  seventy-five  ships  against  them,  but 

327 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
the  Corcyraeans  had  a  large  fleet,  and,  after  defeating  the 
Corinthian  ships,  captured  Epidamnus.  Then  Corinth,  highly 
indignant,  resolved  to  collect  a  great  navy.  Both  sides  appealed 
to  Athens,  and  Athens  (though  it  was  a  hostile  act  against  the 
democracy  of  Epidamnus)  was  induced  by  the  prospect  of 
such  strong  maritime  support  against  her  future  Peloponnesian 
enemies  to  make  an  alliance  with  Corcyra,  and  sent  ships. 
A  naval  battle  then  took  place  (433)  off  the  Sybota  islets,  near 
Corcyra.  The  Athenian  ships  held  aloof  at  first,  but  interfered 
to  save  the  Corcyraeans  from  defeat.  The  Corinthians  sailed 
homewards,  much  incensed  at  the  breach  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
Peace — a  charge  repelled  by  the  Athenians,  who  asserted  that 
Corcyra  had  belonged  to  neither  of  the  two  great  confederacies, 
and  that  Athens  had  a  right  to  defend  her  new  ally. 

Another  complication  with  Corinth  arose  in  the  regions 
Thraceward.  Potidaea,  on  the  isthmus  of  Pallene,  was  a 
Corinthian  colony,  but  had  become  a  tributary  ally  of  Athens, 
and  was  now  ordered  by  the  Athenians  to  eject  its  Corinthian 
officials.  It  refused.  Corinthian  forces  were  sent  to  support 
its  revolt,  but  were  defeated,  and  Potidaea  was  closely  invested 
for  two  years  by  the  Athenians.^  Corinth  now  appealed  to 
Sparta,  which  was  itself  incensed  at  Athens  for  having  (on 
the  advice  of  Pericles)  excluded  Megara  from  its  ports  and  marts. 
An  Athenian  envoy  was,  perhaps  accidentally,  present  at  Sparta, 
and  was  allowed  to  answer  the  Megarians  and  Corinthians. 
Thucydides  has  taken  the  opportunity  to  give  us  some  brilHant 
speeches,  which,  though  fictitious,  probably  represent  fairly 
accurately  the  arguments  on  both  sides.  The  Peloponnesian 
confederates,  he  tells  us,  held  two  assembHes,  and  the  Corin- 
thians were  allowed  a  final  speech,  in  which  they  vehemently 
incited  Sparta  to  overthrow  the  *  despot  city  '  which  was 
trying  to  enslave  all  Greece.  In  spite  of  the  prudent  advice 
of  the  king,  Archidamus,  the  violent  war-speech  of  an  ephor 
carried  the  assembly,  and,  after  receiving  encouragement 
from  the  Delphic  oracle  (which  did  not  feel  ashamed  of  thus 

1  A  monument  now  in  the  British  Museum  extols  those  who  fell  on  the 
Athenian  side. 

328 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

inciting  fratricidal  war),  and  after  making  various  trivial 
demands  {e.g.  that  Athens  should  cast  out  the  '  pollution  * 
in  the  person  of  Pericles),  Sparta  sent  an  ultimatum  :  "  The 
Athenians  can  avoid  war  if  they  restore  the  independence 
of  the  Hellenes.'' 

The  speech  of  Pericles  at  this  juncture  was  (if  we  accept 
the  version  given  by  Thucydides)  a  splendid  example  of  fiery 
and  yet  dignified  oratory.  He  advised  a  temperate  answer  and 
a  proposal  of  arbitration,  but  a  decisive  refusal  of  all  unjusti- 
fiable demands.  Regarding  war  as  inevitable,  he  reviewed 
the  resources  of  both  sides  and  pointed  out  that  the  I^acedae- 
monians,  having  neither  ships  nor  money,  could  not  carry  on 
any  protracted  war.  Formerly  Themistocles  had  advised  the 
abandonment  of  Athens ;  Pericles  now  advised  the  Athenians 
to  trust  not  only  to  their  wooden  but  also  to  their  stone  walls, 
and  to  abandon  their  open  country  to  devastation.  He  believed 
in  a  Fabian  policy  of  exhaustion.  War  was  inevitable,  was 
indeed  practically  declared,  but  they  still,  says  Thucydides, 
had  intercourse  without  heralds,  until  early  in  the  year  431, 
when  the  first  act  of  open  hostility  took  place — an  attack  by 
the  Thebans  on  the  town  of  Plataea,  which,  though  Boeotian, 
had  always  remained  faithful  to  Athens.  The  attack  failed  and 
a  massacre  of  Theban  prisoners — the  precursor  of  many  such 
barbarities,  if  that  word  can  be  appHed  with  double  intensity 
to  the  Greeks  themselves — was  the  signal  for  the  beginning  of 
the  long  and  miserable  civil  war. 

Archidamus  and  his  Peloponnesians  forthwith  invaded 
Attica,  from  which  flocks  and  herds  had  been  removed  toKuboea 
and  the  inhabitants  to  Athens,  where  the  overcrowding  was 
terrible.  Pericles,  in  spite  of  fierce  opposition,  prevented  the 
Athenians  from  sallying  forth  against  the  foe.  The  fleet  was 
sent  against  the  Peloponnese  and  Peloponnesian  colonies, 
but  very  little  was  effected.  In  their  excitement  and  alarm, 
and  perhaps  in  order  to  relieve  the  overcrowding  of  the  city, 
the  Athenians  decided  to  expel  the  whole  population  of  Aegina 
and  to  settle  the  island  with  Athenians.  The  Aeginetans 
found  a  home  at  Thyrea  in  I^aconia,  as  the  Messenians  had  at 

329 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
Naupactus,  but  a  few  years  later  were  captured  and  enslaved 
by  the  Athenians. 

To  what  a  degree  our  interest  in  the  war  is  purely  literary 
is  plain  from  the  fact  that  for  many  the  most  memorable 
event  of  this  first  year  is  the  great  speech  of  Pericles — a  funeral 
panegyric  in  honour  of  those  who  had  already  fallen/  and 
whose  bones  were  now  buried  with  great  ceremony  in  the 
Cerameicus  without  the  walls.  This  celebrated  speech,  reported 
by  one  who  was  himself  doubtless  present,  must  have  been  so 
impressed  on  the  memories,  and  perhaps  also  the  tablets,  of 
many  that  we  may  feel  sure  that  we  possess  in  the  famous 
eleven  chapters  of  Thucydides  much  of  what  Pericles  actually 
said.  Indeed,  all  the  three  great  orations  of  Pericles  that 
Thucydides  has  preserved — the  first  in  favour  of  war,  the 
second  in  honour  of  the  fallen,  and  the  third,  spoken  shortly 
before  his  death,  in  self-defence  against  his  assailants — have, 
in  spite  of  many  a  brilliant  Thucydidean  antithesis,  an  im- 
press of  originality  which  we  find  in  no  other  of  his  reported 
speeches. 

In  the  second  year  of  the  war,  after  the  annual  invasion  and 
devastation  of  Attica,  a  calamity  befell  Athens  which  probably 
contributed  more  than  the  bloodiest  defeats  to  her  final 
overthrow.^  Out  of  perhaps  100,000  citizens  about  a  fifth, 
besides  an  ''  indiscoverable  number  "  of  slaves,  foreigners,  and 
others,  died  of  a  terrible  plague  ^  which  continued  for  two 
years,  and  after  a  year's  intermission  broke  out  again  with 
great  virulence.  A  vivid  description — as  vivid  as  anything 
in  Boccaccio,  Defoe,  Virgil,  or  I^ucretius — is  given  by  Thucy- 
dides, who  was  himself  struck  down  by  the  disease,  but 
recovered.  In  the  midst  of  this  distress  Athens  made  over- 
tures of  peace,  but  they  were  rejected.     Pericles  meanwhile  had 

1  Fig.  104  represents  Athene  contemplating  a  stele  with  the  names  (pos- 
sibly) of  these  same  warriors. 

2  See  Note  A  (Phigaleia).  A  statue  to  Apollo,  the  '  Averter  of  Pestilence,' 
by  Calamis  was  dedicated  in  Athens  about  430. 

*  Probably  some  malignant  form  of  variola,  now  extinct ;  evidently  not 
the  bubonic  plague.  Curiously,  no  account  is  given  by  the  great  physician 
Hippocrates,  who  lived  from  460  to  356. 

330 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

made  an  unsuccessful  sea-raid  on  the  Peloponnese,  and  on  his 
return  was  vehemently  assailed,  and  fined,  and  deprived  of  his 
post  as  strategos.  His  eloquent  and  dignified  defence  caused 
a  revulsion  of  feehng  and  he  was  reinstated  in  his  command, 
but  many  sufferings  had  of  late  fallen  upon  him.  He  had 
been  constantly  lampooned  and  satirized  and  insulted  both 
by  political  and  private  enemies. 

His  friends  Pheidias  and  Anaxagoras,  the  greatest  artist 
and  the  greatest  philosopher  of  the  da)^  had  been  assailed 
by  bigotry  and  calumny ;  the  one  had  died  in  prison,  the 
other  was  an  exile.  Aspasia,  with  whom  he  lived,  and  whose 
house  was  a  centre  of  intellectual  and  artistic  life,  had  been 
accused,  perhaps  by  Cleon,  of  impiety  and  immorahty.  Both 
his  sons  (by  a  wife  from  whom  he  was  separated)  died  of  the 
plague,  and  the  blow  seems  to  have  left  him  a  broken  man.^ 
A  year  or  so  later  he  died,  it  is  said  from  a  low  fever  after  an 
attack  of  the  plague.  As  he  lay  dying  and  seemingly  uncon- 
scious, his  friends,  says  Plutarch,  spoke  together  in  praise  of 
him,  but  he  heard  it  and  interrupted  them  saying  :  "  What 
chiefly  gives  me  pride  is  that  no  Athenian  ever  put  on  mourning 
for  any  act  of  mine."  By  friends  and  enemies  alike  the  wonderful 
eloquence  of  Pericles  is  attested.  Aristophanes  describes  him 
as  the  Olympian  Zeus  hurling  his  flaming  thunderbolts,  and 
Plato  extols  his  "  majestic  intelligence."  His  character  and  his 
policy  are  graphically  described  by  Thucydides  (see  p.  348), 
and  though  the  partiality  of  the  historian  is  apparent,  ^  we 
may  rather  accept  his  estimate  than  the  suggestion  of  Plutarch 
that  he  corrupted  the  people  by  display  and  by  distributions  of 
public  money  and  by  "  nursing  up  the  city  in  elegant  pleasures  " 
in  order  to  maintain  his  personal  power,  or  the  accusation 
of  his  assailants  that  he  "fanned  up  the  war"  to  escape  the 
charge  of  peculation.     At  the  same  time,  while  fully  allowing 

1  Plutarch  describes  him  as  breaking  down  into  uncontrollable  tears  and 
sobs  at  the  funeral  of  his  favourite  son,  Paralus.  The  elder,  Xanthippus,  was 
a  mauvais  sujet  and  caused  him  much  trouble.  His  son  Pericles,  by  Aspasia, 
was  legitimatized  before  the  death  of  his  father. 

2  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was  related  to  the  family  of  Cimon,  the  here- 
ditary opponent  of  Xanthippus  and  Pericles. 

331 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
his  integrity  and  sincerity,  it  is  possible  to  doubt  the  wisdom 
of  a  poHcy  which,  although  opposed  to  imperiaHstic  adventure, 
was  in  support  of  an  empire  that  had  been  built  up  on  a 
foundation  of  tyrannical  injustice,  extortion,  and  bloodshed, 
and  was  doomed  to  perish  by  the  hatred  that  it  inspired 
not  only  in  the  rest  of  the  Hellenic  world,  ^  but  also  among  its 
so-called  allies. 

While  the  plague  was  raging  an  armament  had  been  sent  to 
storm  Potidaea,  which  still  held  out,  but  a  fourth  of  the  troops 
had  perished  by  the  disease  and  the  rest  returned.  Karly 
in  429,  however,  the  town  surrendered  to  blockade  ^  after 
such  sufferings  that  the  garrison  had  fed  on  the  bodies  of  the 
slain.  Fair  terms  were  granted,  which  intensely  displeased  the 
Athenian  mob,  who  had  looked  forward  to  a  great  capture  of 
slaves  and  a  wholesale  butchery  to  gratify  their  resentment. 
About  the  same  time  the  Spartans  massacred  a  number  of 
prisoners  captured  at  sea  and  cast  their  bodies  out  for  the 
birds  and  beasts.  The  Athenians  retaliated  by  murdering 
Spartan  envoys  who  had  fallen  into  their  hands  and  by  serving 
the  bodies  in  like  fashion.  Henceforward  acts  like  these  and 
of  still  greater  ferocity  became  common,  till  at  Aegospotami 
from  three  to  four  thousand  Athenian  prisoners  were  butchered 
in  cold  blood. 

The  chief  events  of  the  next  five  years  (429-424),  besides 
the  almost  annual  devastation  of  Attica,  were  the  capture  of 
Plataea  by  the  I^acedaemonians,  the  revolt  and  reduction  of 
Mytilene,  the  revolution  and  massacre  at  Corcyra,  the  capture 
of  Spartans  on  Sphacteria,  and  the  defeat  of  Athens  at  Delion. 
The  following  brief  accounts  of  these  facts  will  be  supplemented 
later  by  descriptive  passages  from  Thucydides. 

In  429,  instead  of  devastating  Attica,  Archidamus  and  his 
Peloponnesians  cross  the  ridge  of  Cithaeron,  and  the  Plataeans, 
on  the  (never  fulfilled)  promise  of  aid  from  Athens,  determine  to 
stand  a  siege.    The  account  that  Thucydides  has  given  of  this 

1  Thucydides,  though  an  Athenian,  tells  us  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
public  feeling  through  the  whole  of  Greece  was  "  greatly  in  favour  of  the 
I^acedaemonians  "  as  adversaries  of  the  '  despot  city.' 

2  Socrates  served  as  Athenian  hoplite  in  this  campaign. 

332 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

siege,  with  all  its  picturesque  details  of  vallation  and  counter- 
vallation,  of  mines,  battering-rams,  and  so  on,  and  of  the  escape 
of  about  half  the  garrison,  who  on  a  moonless  winter  night 
amidst  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain  scaled  the  besiegers'  walls 
and  waded  across  the  flooded  moats,  covered  with  fragile  ice, 
and  reached  Athens  in  safety — this  picture  has  made  the 
P  siege  of  little  Plataea,  with  its  garrison  of  400,  and  later  only 
'  200,  Plataeans  and  80  Athenians,  as  famous  as  that  of  Syracuse, 
Saguntum,  or  Magdeburg.  Athens,  either  from  cowardice  or 
because  of  the  plague,  thought  it  best  to  forget  its  promised 
aid,  and  at  last,  in  the  summer  of  427,  the  Plataeans  surrendered 
at  discretion.  In  vain  they  appealed  to  the  memory  of  Mara- 
thon and  their  heroic  ancestors  and  to  the  tombs  of  the  Spartans 
who  fell  at  the  battle  of  Plataea.  Commissioners  sent  from 
Sparta  to  decide  their  fate  put  to  each  man  only  the  question 
whether  in  the  present  war  he  had  done  any  service  to  the 
Spartans  or  their  allies.  All  the  200  were  slaughtered,  as  well 
as  some  Athenians,  and  Plataea  was  razed  to  the  ground. 

While  Plataea  was  still  being  besieged  (428)  Mytilene,  the 
capital  of  I^esbos,  nominally  still  an  autonomous  ally  of 
[Athens,  was  induced  by  the  oligarchical  party  to  assert,  as 
jSamos  had  done,  its  independence.  I^esbian  envoys  appealed 
to  the  Greeks  assembled  at  the  Olympic  Games,  and  lycsbos 
was  admitted  into  the  Peloponnesian  league.  The  Athenians, 
though  much  crippled  by  the  plague  and  by  want  of  money, 
dispatched  forty  ships  under  Paches  and  blockaded  Mytilene. 
The  Spartans  also  sent  a  fleet,  but  it  returned  without  daring 
to  attack  the  Athenians,  and  ultimately  the  democrats  in  the 
city  forced  the  authorities  to  capitulate  on  the  condition  that 
its  fate  should  be  decided  by  the  Assembly  at  Athens.  At 
Athens  there  had  come  to  the  front  a  politician  named  Cleon. 
The  character  of  Cleon  as  drawn  by  Aristophanes,  who  was  an 
aristocrat  in  politics  and  his  private  enemy,  as  well  as  by 
Thucydides,  who  was  banished  by  his  influence,  is  that  of  a 
loud-voiced,  brutal,  overbearing  demagogue,  one  of  the  most 
pernicious  products  of  the  dicasteries  and  the  Bcclesia ;  and, 
after  making  all  due  allowances  for  personal  dislike  and  for 

333 


AN,CIENT  GREECE 
political  rancour,  as  well  as  for  the  exaggerations  of  comic 
caricature,  this  tanner  or  leather-seller,  who  has  been  sedu- 
lously whitewashed  by  some  modern  writers,  seems  to  have 
really  been  something  very  like  the  picture  given  by  his 
two  great  contemporaries.  That  on  one  occasion,  as  we 
shall  see,  he  gained  a  remarkable  success,  and  that  his  chau- 
vinistic war-policy  may  have  been  more  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Athenian  Empire  than  that  advocated  by  the  milder-tempered 
Nicias,  can  be  allowed  without  causing  us  to  exchange  the 
portrait  of  the  man  given  us  by  Aristophanes  in  his  Knights 
for  that  offered  by  writers  who  describe  him  as  a  "  great 
Opposition  speaker,"  not  more  unnecessarily  virulent  than 
Demosthenes,  Cicero,  Milton,  or  Chatham,  and  withal  a 
discoverer  and  castigator  of  social  and  political  scandals  and 
a  true  friend  of  the  poorer  classes.  This  man  proposed  that 
all  the  grown-up  men  of  Mytilene  should  be  put  to  death,  and 
his  proposal  was  passed.  A  ship  of  war  was  forthwith  sent 
with  orders  to  Paches  to  carry  out  the  terrible  verdict.  But  a 
revulsion  of  feeling  set  in.  On  the  next  day  the  Assembly  was 
again  summoned,  and  by  a  small  minority,  in  spite  of  Cleon's 
efforts,  the  decree  was  revoked.  A  swift  vessel  was  dispatched 
to  overtake  the  trireme,  which  had  the  start  of  a  day  and  a 
night.  Paches  had  already  received  the  warrant  and  was 
preparing  to  execute  it  when  the  reprieve  arrived.  The  Athe- 
nian mob  was  satiated  with  the  blood  of  about  looo  ring- 
leaders who  had  been  sent  to  Athens,  and  Paches,  on  his  return, 
was  arraigned  on  some  charge  and  committed  suicide  in  the 
presence  of  the  Athenian  burghers  who  were  judging  the  case. 
One  of  the  most  vivid  scenes  depicted  by  Thucydides  is 
that  of  the  horrible  massacres  of  the  Corcyraean  oligarchs  by 
their  fellow-citizens  which  took  place  at  this  period  (427-425). 
The  episode,  with  all  its  revolting  details — perhaps  as  revolting 
in  their  inhuman,  unnatural  ferocity  as  anything  in  the  world's 
history — has  been  recounted  by  many  writers.^  The  event  is 
only  indirectly  connected  with  the  Peloponnesian  War,  and 
very  slightly,  if  at  all,  with  the  history  of  that  Greece  which  is 
1  See  Thuc.  iii.  71  sq.,  iv.  45  sq.  ;   Grote,  1.  and  lii. 

334 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

of  any  importance  to  us.  The  last  scenes  of  the  insane  butchery 
of  fellow-Greeks  and  fellow-citizens,  as  described  by  Thucy- 
dides,  together  with  his  reflexions  on  moral  and  political  feeling 
in  Greece  at  this  time,  will  be  given  or  referred  to  later.  Here 
it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the  trouble  was  begun  by  the  fact 
that  Corinth  sent  back  to  Corcyra  the  250  high-born  prisoners 
whom  they  had  captured  in  the  sea-fight  off  Sybota  (433) .  The 
rest  of  the  prisoners  they  had  sold  as  slaves,  but  had  kept  and 
treated  with  especial  lenience  these  nobles,  with  the  intention 
of  using  them  later  for  the  establishment  of  an  oligarchy  in 
Corcyra.  The  occasion  now  presented  itself,  as  Athens  was 
weakened  by  the  plague  and  distracted  by  the  lycsbian  revolt. 
The  return  of  these  prisoners  was  the  signal  for  a  revolution, 
in  which,  after  some  temporary  successes  and  many  atrocities, 
the  oligarchs  were  overwhelmed  and  driven  out.  They  returned 
and  entrenched  themselves  in  a  stronghold,  Istone,  but  finally 
capitulated  to  the  Athenians  and  the  democrats  and  were  all 
massacred. 

Another  important  event  of  this  first  period  of  the  war,  also 
vividly  described  by  Thucydides,  is  the  capture  of  some  300 
Spartans  on  the  island  of  Sphacteria.  An  Athenian  fleet  had 
been  dispatched  in  425  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the  Sicilian 
cities  and  to  help  the  democratic  party  at  Corcyra.  As  they 
coasted  round  the  Peloponnese  the  Athenians  had  fortified  and 
occupied  Pylos,^  the  promontory  which  together  with  Sphacteria 
forms  the  great  landlocked  bay  famous  in  modern  history  under 
the  name  Navarino.  The  Spartans  sent  considerable  forces  by 
land  and  by  sea  to  eject  the  Athenians,  who  were  commanded  by 
Demosthenes  and  numbered  200  with  perhaps  1000  Messenians. 
The  Athenian  fleet  then  hastened  back  from  Corcyra  and 
defeated  the  Peloponnesian  vessels,  forcing  them  to  run  ashore 
at  the  north  end  of  the  bay.  They  then  blockaded  Sphacteria, 
on  which  was  the  main  body  of  the  picked  land  troops  of  the 
Spartans.  The  alarm  was  so  great  at  Sparta  that  a  truce  was 
made  in  order  that  envoys  should  be  sent  to  Athens  to  treat 
for  peace.     The  stranded  Spartan  ships  and  others,  sixty  in 

1  The  Homerie  *  sandy  Pylos,'  Nestor's  town,  was  probably  in  the  vicinity. 

335 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
all,  were  handed  over  to  the  Athenians  on  the  promise  that 
they  should  be  restored  at  the  expiration  of  the  truce — a 
promise  which,  by  the  way,  was  not  fulfilled.  At  Athens  all 
right-thinking  men  were  doubtless  inclined  for  peace,  and  it 
would  have  been  a  wise  decision,  and  one  that  might  have 
affected  deeply  the  future  of  the  Hellenic  race  and  of  European 
civilization,  had  the  Athenian  people  taken  advantage  of 
their  good  fortune  to  end  honourably  this  most  foolish  and 
detestable  civil  war. 

But  the  evil  passions  of  the  mob  and  their  greed  for  the 
aggrandizement  of  the  empire  were  stirred  up  by  Cleon.  Nisaea 
(the  Corinthian  port),  the  ports  of  Megara,  the  whole  of  Achaea, 
and  Troezen  was  the  price  that  Athens  demanded  for  peace ;  and 
the  demand  was  refused.  But  the  blockade  of  Sphacteria  lasted 
long  and  the  mob  at  Athens  grew  impatient.  "  If  I  were 
commander,"  bragged  Cleon  before  the  Assembly,  "  I  would 
soon  do  it !  "  At  these  words  Nicias,  the  strategos,  who  had 
been  bantered  by  Cleon  for  not  going  off  to  Pylos  and  capturing 
the  Spartans,  rose  up  and  offered  to  cede  his  command  to  the 
demagogue.  The  mob  was  tickled,  and  insisted.  Finally  Cleon 
accepted,  and  with  a  band  of  mercenaries,  refusing  the  offer 
of  Athenian  hoplites  and  promising,  doubtless  amid  great 
laughter,  to  return  within  twenty  days  with  the  Spartan 
captives,  he  set  out  for  Pylos,  and,  to  the  amazement  of  all 
and  the  discomfiture  of  many,  within  the  stipulated  twenty 
days  he  and  Demosthenes  returned  with  the  Spartan  prisoners 
— nearly  300  men.  The  fight  had  been  very  severe.  The 
Spartans  had  been  driven  with  heavy  loss  gradually  back  till 
they  had  taken  their  last  stand,  as  at  Thermopylae,  on  a 
height ;  but,  when  circumvented,  as  at  Thermopylae,  they 
doubtless  felt  no  such  enthusiasm  for  their  cause  as  those 
around  I^eonidas  had  felt,  and  they  surrendered — a  course 
never  before  taken,  perhaps,  in  Spartan  warfare.  Sphacteria 
was  strongly  garrisoned  with  Messeiiians  from  Naupactus, 
whose  exultation  at  the  crushing  defeat  of  their  ancient  foe 
found,  and  still  finds,  expression  in  a  gift  that  they  made  from 
the  spoil  to  the  sacred  precinct  at  Olympia — a  splendid  figure 
336 


i 


93.  The  Nike  (Victory)  of  Paeonius 


336 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

of  Victory  floating  aloft  amidst  trailing  wind-blown  drapery — 
the  work  of  the  sculptor  Paeonius  (Fig.  93). 

In  the  next  year  (424)  the  Athenians  captured  the  island 
of  Cythera — a  formidable  base  for  naval  operations  against 
Sparta.  Also  Nisaea  and  its  lyong  Walls  (built  by  themselves 
c.  460)  fell  into  their  hands.  Athens  was  now  at  the  acme  of 
her  success,  and  might  have  well  accepted  the  generous  terms 
offered  by  Sparta.  But  some  Ate  seems  to  have  goaded  her 
onward  to  ruin.  Elated  by  good  fortune  and  incited  by  the 
ambitious  militarism  of  the  strategos  Demosthenes  and  the 
harangues  of  Cleon,  the  populace  determined  to  take  revenge 
on  Thebes  for  the  defeat  of  Coroneia  and  the  loss  of  Boeotia. 
The  crushing  overthrow  of  Delion  (424)  was  the  result. 
The  Athenian  general,  Hippocrates,  was  slain  and  his  army 
of  7000  hoplites  and  20,000  Hght-armed  troops  was  routed 
by  the  Thebans,  who  used,  apparently  for  the  first  time,  a 
formation  (twenty-five  deep)  like  that  of  the  phalanx,  to 
which  their  future  victories  were  mainly  due. 

With  the  battle  of  Delion  is  associated  the  name  of  Socrates. 
He  is  said  to  have  fought  with  great  courage  and  to  have 
contributed  much  to  an  orderly  retreat,  thus  saving  many 
lives,  among  them  that  of  Alcibiades. 

After  the  defeat  at  Delion  (424)  disaster  overtook  the 
Athenians  also  in  Thrace.  The  Spartan  Brasidas,  who  had 
already  distinguished  himself  at  Pylos  and  Megara,  with  a 
strong  body  of  Peloponnesian  hoplites,  had  traversed  Thessaly 
and  Macedonia,  where  he  joined  forces  with  Perdiccas,  the 
Macedonian  king,  and  invaded  the  Athenian  possessions  in 
Thrace,  proclaiming  himself  as  their  liberator  from  slavery. 
His  chivalrous  and  humane  character  seems  to  have  favoured 
his  success  no  less  than  his  courage  and  the  rapidity  of  his 
strategic  movements.  Acanthus,  Stageiros,  and  other  cities 
welcomed  him,  and  by  a  forced  march  he  surprised  Amphipolis, 
which  came  to  terms  with  him  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Athenian  ships  from  Thasos  under  command  of  Thucydides, 
the  son  of  Olorus,  as  the  historian  calls  himself  when  relating 
the  mishap      Thucydides  rescued  Kion,  the  port  of  Amphipolis 

Y  337 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Strymon,  but  this  did  not  save  him  from 
banishment,  which,  he  tells  us,  lasted  twenty  years  (424-404) . 
Disheartened  by  the  defeat  at  Delion  and  by  the  brilliant 
successes  of  Brasidas  in  Thrace,  the  Athenians  concluded  a 
truce,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  terms  of  a  definite 
peace.  Two  days,  however,  after  the  truce  had  begun  the  town 
of  Scione  (on  Pallene,  south  of  Potidaea)  opened  its  gates  to 
Brasidas  and  welcomed  him  with  enthusiasm,  offering  him  a 
golden  crown  as  the  liberator  of  Greece  from  Athenian  slavery. 
At  Athens  the  exasperation  was  intense,  and  Cleon  carried  a 
proposal  that  Scione  should  be  razed  and  all  its  male  inhabi- 
tants be  slain — which  was  eventually  done.  Cleon"  himself 
was  sent  with  forces  to  Thrace,  and  in  a  fight  under  the 
walls  of  AmphipoHs  both  he  and  Brasidas  fell.  Their  deaths 
strengthened  the  hands  of  Nicias  and  others  who  wished  to  put 
an  end  to  the  war,  and  in  421  the  so-called  Peace  of  Nicias 
was  concluded  for  fifty  years.  Prisoners  and  places  captured 
during  the  war  were  to  be  restored  ;  but  AmphipoHs  refused 
to  belong  again  to  Athens,  and  Athens  refused  to  evacuate 
Pylos,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  prudent  Nicias,  who 
was  thwarted  by  the  intrigues  of  the  brilliant  and  unprincipled 
young  Alcibiades,  formal  peace  soon  relapsed  into  overt 
hostility.  Sparta  and  Athens  were  nominally  in  alliance,  but 
Alcibiades  brought  about  an  alliance  also  between  Athens  and 
Argos,  which  state  had  set  itself  at  the  head  of  a  new  Pelo- 
ponnesian  league,  thus  defying  the  supremacy  of  Sparta.  Such 
a  state  of  things  could  not  last.  Sparta  put  an  army  into  the 
field,  and  the  alHed  forces  of  the  Argives,  Mantineians,  and 
Athenians  suffered  a  severe  defeat  at  the  battle  of  Mantineia 

(418). 

For  two  or  three  years  no  great  event,  we  are  told,  took 
place  except  the  capture  of  Scione  and  the  massacre  of  all  its 
male  inhabitants,  and  an  entirely  unprovoked  and  unjustifiable 
attack  by  Athens  on  the  island  of  Melos,  which  was  quite 
independent  and  had  taken  no  part  in  the  war.  On  the  proposal 
of  Alcibiades  it  was  commanded  to  subject  itself  to  the  Athe- 
nian Empire,  and  on  its  refusal  it  was  besieged  and  reduced  ; 

338 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

all  the  adult  males  were  massacred,  all  the  women  and  children 
sold  as  slaves.  Thucydides  gives  us  in  full  the  arguments 
used  by  the  Melians  and  by  the  Athenians  at  a  conference  held 
before  the  perpetration  of  this  hideous  atrocity.  The  cold- 
blooded inhumanity  of  the  Athenians,  their  insolent  assertion 
of  the  right  of  the  stronger  and  their  impious  appeal  to  the 
example  of  the  gods  themselves  to  support  that  claim,  affect 
one  Hke  the  prelude  to  some  terrific  catastrophe  in  a  tragedy 
of  Aeschylus,  and  prepare  us  for  the  calamity  that  is  shortly 
to  befall  Athens  and  her  empire. 

The  pitiful  story  of  the  Sicilian  disaster  is  well  known  to 
readers  of  Thucydides  and  has  been  retold  by  many  writers, 
who  have  vied  with  each  other  in  depicting  anew  all  its  pathetic 
and  harrowing  incidents.  What  makes  it  so  especially  pitiable 
and  horrible  is  the  fact  that  this  ferocious  fratricidal  conflict 
was  due  to  nothing  but  the  insatiable  greed  for  dominion  and 
supremacy  on  the  part  of  that  Hellenic  people  to  whom  for 
many  reasons  we  owe  an  inestimable  debt  of  gratitude.  As 
the  main  object  of  this  book  is  to  draw  attention  to  some  of 
these  reasons  rather  than  to  recount  external  history,  and  as 
this  Sicilian  episode  has  little  or  no  connexion  with  the  true 
inner  life  of  Greece  and  would  be,  even  as  framework,  of  little 
assistance  to  us,  the  following  facts  may  suffice. 

The  Greek  cities  of  Sicily  and  Southern  Italy  owed  their  origin, 
some  to  Dorian,  others  to  Ionian  founders,  and,  although  their 
own  intestine  feuds  and  their  own  struggle  for  existence  against 
the  Carthaginians  and  Etruscans  were  for  them  matters  of 
prime  importance,  their  sympathies  were  doubtless  enhsted 
on  the  side  of  their  respective  mother-cities  in  the  long  war 
that  was  desolating  the  land.  But,  in  spite  of  the  progress  of 
democracy,  sympathy  with  Sparta,  increased  by  a  growing 
resentment  against  the  ambitious  and  tyrannical  conduct  of 
Athens,  had  become  ever  stronger,  and  when  in  425  the 
Athenian  fleet,  sent,  as  has  been  related,^  to  support  I^eontini 
against  Syracuse,  at  last  reached  Sicily  it  could  do  nothing, 

1  This  fleet  had  to  return  from  Corcyra  to  Pylos,  where  it  was  detained  for 
some  time. 

339 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
for  at  a  conference  of  the  Sicilian  cities  it  was  decided  (on  the 
proposal  of  the  Syracusan  Hermocrates)  to  lay  aside  dissension 
and  to  brook  no  foreign  interference  in  Sicilian  affairs.  So 
incensed  were  the  Athenians  at  this  wise  and  most  justifiable 
decision  that  they  punished  severely  by  fines  and  banishment 
the  two  admirals  of  their  fleet,  Sophocles  and  Eurymedon. 
Unhappily  political  rancour  in  Sicily  led  to  further  appeals 
for  Athenian  interference,  and  in  416,  when  called  upon  by 
Segesta  for  aid  against  SeHnus,  the  Assembly,  cajoled  by  the 
fascinating  eloquence  of  Alcibiades,  in  spite  of  the  warnings 
of  Nicias,  determined  to  send  a  large  armament  of  some  140 
triremes  and  500  transports,  under  the  command  of  Alcibiades, 
Nicias,  and  Ivamachus,  to  support  Segesta  and  other  anti- 
Dorian  cities  in  their  revolt  against  the  authority  of  Syracuse 
— the  reduction  of  which  city  was  the  prime  object  of  the 
expedition. 

Just  before  the  expedition  sailed  a  strange  event  occurred — 
the  mutilation  of  the  busts  of  Hermes  which  stood  in  front 
of  temples  and  many  private  houses.  The  excitement  and 
alarm  was  such  as  might  be  caused  in  some  Roman  Catholic 
countries  by  a  wholesale  mutilation  of  roadside  crucifixes  and 
Madonna  images.  Whether  it  was  an  act  of  drunken  vandalism 
or  of  impiety  or  had  political  meaning  was  never  discovered. 
Possibly  it  was  perpetrated  by  paid  agents  of  Sparta  or  Syra- 
cuse. Alcibiades  was  suspected,  and  evidence  was  forthcoming 
that  he  had  indulged  in  profane  mimicries  of  mystic  Bleusinian 
rites.  The  fleet  had  already  started,  but  orders  were  sent 
for  his  return.  At  Thurii  he  managed  to  get  ashore  and  ere 
long  was  at  Sparta,  where  he  revealed  all  the  schemes  of  the 
Athenians,  vented  his  disdain  of  democracy  as  '  acknowledged 
folly,*  and  induced  the  Spartans  to  fortify  Deceleia,  in  North- 
western Attica — a  stronghold  which  proved  most  troublesome 
to  Athens. 

The  investment  of  Syracuse  both  by  land  and  sea  by  Nicias — 
who  after  the  gallant  Ivamachus  had  fallen  was  the  sole  general 
— seemed  at  one  time  not  unlikely  to  succeed.  But  Nicias 
was  slow  and  unenterprising.    Moreover,  the  Syracusans  were 

340 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

fighting  for  their  homes  and  their  liberty,  while  he  and  many 
of  his  men,  when  they  thought  of  Marathon  and  Salamis, 
must  have  felt  but  little  enthusiasm  for  their  task.  Soon, 
however,  they  themselves  had  to  fight  for  their  lives,  for, 
their  blockade  on  the  land  side  being  ineffective,  Syracuse 
was  reinforced  by  the  Spartan  Gyhppus  (who  with  four  ships 
had  reached  Himera  and  had  collected  3000  men),  and  they 
therefore  abandoned  the  higher  ground  and  entrenched  them- 
selves on  Plemmyrion,  near  the  sea.  Here  they  were  closely 
invested  by  the  Syracusans  and  finally  driven  to  camp  on  the 
marshy  western  shores  of  the  great  harbour  near  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Anapus.^ 

A  fleet  of  seventy-three  triremes  under  the  command  of 
Kurymedon  and  Demosthenes  was  sent  from  Athens  for  their 
relief  and  entered  the  harbour  in  triumph.  But  also  the 
enemy  had  gained  large  reinforcements,  and  after  some  fruitless 
attempts  to  act  on  the  offensive  the  newly  arrived  generals 
persuaded  Nicias  to  embark  the  troops  and  withdraw  by  sea 
to  some  place  of  safety.  This  was  still  practicable,  and  the 
armament  would  have  doubtless  escaped  had  not  an  eclipse 
of  the  moon  taken  place  (August  27,  413).  The  soothsayers 
insisted  on  the  departure  being  deferred  for  a  month,  and 
Nicias  yielded  to  the  superstitious  clamour  of  the  soldiers. 
The  Syracusans,  learning  the  intention  of  the  Athenians  to 
escape,  attacked  with  seventy-six  vessels.  Though  five  miles 
in  circumference,  the  space  afforded  by  the  harbour  did  not 
allow  the  Athenians  to  take  advantage  of  their  superiority 
in  manoeuvring.  They  were  worsted  and  Kurymedon  was 
slain.  Then  the  Syracusans  blocked  the  exit  of  the  harbour 
with  vessels  and  chains,  and  a  desperate  conflict  took  place, 
the  walls  of  Ortygia,  the  heights  of  the  upper  city,  and  the 
shores  of  the  harbour  being  crowded  with  innumerable  specta- 
tors as  in  a  mighty  amphitheatre,  while  the  two  fleets — about 

^  Ancient  Syracuse  lay  on  the  island  of  Ortygia  (joined  to  the  mainland  by  a 
causeway)  and  extended  up  the  heights  of  Achradina  and  Tyche,  and  later 
included  the  more  westerly  heights  of  Bpipolae,  which  the  Athenians  at  this 
time  occupied  at  first  with  their  circumvallation.  The  Great  Harbour  is  formed 
by  Ortygia  and  Plemmyrion,  between  which  there  is  a  narrow  exit. 

341 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
200  vessels,  carrying  thousands  of  armed  men — struggled  for 
mastery.  At  last  the  Athenians  were  driven  back  to  their 
camp,  and  in  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  Demosthenes  refused  to 
make  another  effort  to  break  through  the  barrier.  It  was  then 
decided  to  attempt  a  retreat  by  land.  In  a  state  of  pitiable 
distress  and  despair  they  started — a  host  of  about  40,000. 
The  march  was  directed  inland  with  the  object  of  reaching 
friendly  Sicel  territory.  After  four  days  they  reached  a 
precipitous  hill,  the  Ascraean  cliff,  where  the  road  passed 
through  a  narrow  ravine.  This  was  strongly  occupied  by  the 
enemy,  and  the  fugitive  army  turned  southward.  The  rear 
division,  under  Demosthenes,  was  surrounded  and  capitulated. 
Nicias,  after  pushing  forward  desperately  under  enormous 
losses  for  two  days  more,  surrendered  to  Gylippus.  The  chief 
captives — Athenians  and  their  alHes — some  eight  thousand 
in  number,  were  consigned  for  months  to  the  stone  quarries  of 
Achradina  and  Epipolae,  in  which  deep,  unsheltered  dungeons 
many  perished  miserably.  The  survivors  were  treated  as  con- 
victs or  sold  as  slaves — a  fate  that  doubtless  befell  all  the 
rest  of  the  prisoners.^ 

In  spite  of  much  that  the  true  lover  of  Greece  may  well 
leave  to  chroniclers  of  the  horrors  and  political  insanities  of 
which  ordinary  Greek  history  so  largely  consists,  the  intense 
human  pathos  of  this  SiciHan  disaster  as  related  by  Thucydides 
makes  it  a  most  impressive  and  memorable  episode.  The 
remaining  nine  years  of  the  war,  two  of  which  only  are  described 
by  him,  offer  far  less  of  interest.  Athens  had  lost  two-thirds  of 
her  ships  and  probably  half  her  trained  fighters.  Incited  by  the 
renegade  Alcibiades,  almost  all  her  allies  now  revolted.  Sparta 
made  an  infamous  treaty  with  the  satrap  Tissaphernes,  giving 
over  the  Ionian  Greek  cities  to  Persia  in  return  for  financial 
aid  against  Athens.  But  Alcibiades,  who  had  fallen  into 
disfavour  with  the  Spartans  and  had  taken  refuge  with  Tissa- 
phernes, persuaded  him  to  transfer  his  aid  to  the  Athenians 

1  Browning's  Balaustion  should  be  read  in  this  connexion.  In  commemora- 
tion of  their  victory  over  the  invader  the  Syracusans  issued  some  very  beau- 
tiful coins  of  the  same  type  as  the  Demareteia  (coin  6,  Plate  IV)  struck  after 
the  battle  of  Himera. 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

on  condition  that  an  oligarchy  should  be  set  up  at  Athens. 
This  was  effected  (411).  A  council  of  Four  Hundred  with 
practically  absolute  powers  was  instituted,  but  the  army  and 
fleet  assembled  at  Samos  (which  had  remained  faithful  to 
Athens)  decHned  to  recognize  it,  and  a  counter-revolution  took 
place  re-establishing  the  democracy.  In  the  midst  of  all 
these  poHtical  dissensions  the  Spartan  fleet  more  than  once 
nearly  took  Athens  by  surprise,  and  succeeded  in  defeating 
a  hastily  raised  Athenian  squadron  off  Kuboea  and  causing 
that  island  to  revolt.  The  sea-power  of  the  Spartans  and 
their  alHes  had  become  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Athenians, 
but  the  latter  gained  several  naval  successes  in  the  next  few 
years  (Cynossema,  Cyzicus,  Byzantium),  some  of  them  due 
to  the  strategic  genius  of  Alcibiades,  who  made  a  triumphal 
entry  into  Athens  and  was  given  supreme  command  of  all 
land  and  sea  forces.^  In  407,  however,  a  slight  defeat  induced 
the  mob  to  dismiss  their  hero,  who  retired  in  disgust  to  the 
Thracian  Chersonese.  ^  In  406  the  sea-fight  of  Arginusae 
(near  I^esbos)  was  won  by  the  Athenians — a  victory  memorable 
chiefly  for  the  fact  that  six  of  the  victorious  commanders 
(among  them  the  son  of  Pericles)  were  accused  of  having 
abandoned  the  crews  of  certain  disabled  vessels,  and  without 
due  hearing  or  legal  process  were  condemned  to  drink  hemlock. 
In  passing  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  only  man  among 
the  state-councillors  (prytaneis)  who,  not  overawed  by  t\& 
popular  clamour,  persisted  in  his  protest  against  this  illegali 
was  Socrates. 

The  final  triumph  of  Sparta  in  the  war  was  largely  due  to 
funds  suppHed  by  Persia,  especially  by  Cyrus,  the  younger 
brother  of  King  Artaxerxes.  Cyrus  had  been  sent  as  satrap 
to  Sardis  ^  by  his  father,  Darius  II,  and  was  strongly  attached 

1  The  leaden  plate  on  which  the  curses  of  the  priests  against  him  (as 
profaner  of  Mysteries)  had  been  inscribed  was  cast  into  the  sea  by  the 
hysterical  demos. 

2  Hence  he  tried  to  reach  the  court  of  Artaxerxes  in  Susa,  but  was  prevented 
by  Pharnabazus,  and  in  404  was  murdered,  probably  through  Spartan  influence. 

'  Tissaphernes  was  ousted  by  Cyrus  at  Sardis  and  given  the  less  important 
satrapy  of  Caria,  which  explains  his  hostility  to  Cyrus.  Pharnabazus  continued 
as  satrap  of  Hellespontine  Phrygia  till  about  387. 

343 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
to  the  Spartan  interest  and  to  I^ysander,  the  Spartan  com- 
mander, to  whom  he  even  entrusted  his  satrapy  when  he  was 
called  to  the  deathbed  of  his  father  in  405.  In  this  same  year, 
at  Aegospotami  ('  Goat's  Rivers  '),  on  the  coast  of  the  Thracian 
Chersonese,  I^ysander  captured  almost  the  whole  of  the  Athe- 
nian fleet  (of  about  170  vessels)  while  the  crews  were  on  land. 
Between  3000  and  4000  Athenians  were  made  prisoners  and 
were  all  put  to  death.  The  Athenian  commander-in-chief, 
Conon,  escaped,  but,  fearing  to  return  to  Athens,  took  refuge 
with  Bvagoras,  king  of  Salamis,  in  Cyprus.  I^ysander  then 
blockaded  the  Peiraeus,  while  the  kings  Agis  and  Pausanias 
with  the  Spartan  army  invested  Athens.  A  conference  of 
the  Peloponnesians  was  called,  which  voted  that  the  city 
which  for  so  long  had  enslaved  Greece  should  be  razed  and 
her  whole  population  sold  into  slavery.  But,  like  Florence, 
Athens  was  saved  by  the  magnanimity  of  her  great  rival. 
Sparta  refused  to  destroy  a  city  that  had  done  such  noble 
service  against  the  barbarian  invader.  The  conditions  imposed 
(at  first  rejected  by  the  influence  of  the  demagogue  Cleophon, 
a  lamp-maker  and  a  worthy  successor  of  Cleon)  were  that 
Athens  should  become  the  ally  and  acknowledge  the  supremacy 
of  Sparta ;  that  she  should  give  up  all  her  possessions  except 
Attica  and  Salamis,  and  all  her  ships ;  that  the  I^ong  Walls 
and  fortifications  should  be  pulled  down,  and  that  all  exiles 
should  be  recalled.  After  the  terms  were  ratified,  the 
Spartan  fleet  entered  the  Peiraeus  (April  404)  and  the 
Athenians  aided  in  demoHshing  the  walls  to  the  sound  of 
flutes  and  the  jubilant  shouts  of  the  Peloponnesians,  who 
imagined  that  at  last  the  day  of  freedom  for  Greece  had 
dawned. 

Even  in  this  hour  of  humiliation  the  Athenians  found  it 
necessary  to  spend  their  remaining  strength  in  the  insane  fury 
of  political  strife  and  intestine  bloodshed.  A  supreme  council 
of  thirty  (known  as  the  *  Thirty  Tyrants  ')  was  instituted 
under  the  approval  of  I^ysander,  who  occupied  the  Acropohs 
with  his  Spartans.  To  the  Thirty  belonged  Theramenes,  a 
former  member  of  the  Four  Hundred,  and  Critias,  a  violent 

344 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

oligarch,  who  had  been  exiled  by  the  democrats.^  These  two 
quarrelled  and  Theramenes  was  put  to  death.  But  the  exiled 
democrats  under  Thrasybulus  fortified  themselves  in  the 
stronghold  of  Phyle,  on  Mount  Parnes,  and  seized  the  Peiraeus, 
where  Critias  was  slain  in  a  fight.  The  Thirty  were  deposed 
by  the  Athenian  mob,  and,  to  make  matters  worse,  a  Council 
of  Ten  was  elected,  strongly  supported  by  I^ysander.  At  last 
the  Spartan  king  Pausanias  intervened,  and  by  his  counsel 
and  the  influence  of  advisers  from  Sparta  reconciliation  and 
general  amnesty  were  proclaimed,  and  the  ferocious  and 
turbulent  Athenian  demos  had  a  season  of  enforced  quiet  under 
"  the  laws  of  Solon  and  the  institutions  of  Draco."  ^ 


SECTION  A :  THUCYDIDES 

The  History  of  Thucydides  has  been  mentioned  and  quoted 
several  times  already,  and  his  main  characteristics  as  a  writer 
have  been  noted.  All  that  is  known  for  certain  about  his 
life  and  that  is  of  any  importance  has  been  already  related 
except  what  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  quotations 
and  except  the  facts,  if  they  are  such,  that  during  his  exile 
he  lived  for  some  time  at  the  Macedonian  court,  and  that  he 
was  also  in  Sicily  and  perhaps  present  at  the  fight  in  the  Great 
Harbour,  and  that  not  long  after  his  return  from  exile  [c.  403) 
he  was  assassinated  at  Athens,  or,  according  to  others,  by  a 
robber  in  Thrace.  From  internal  evidence  it  would  seem  that 
the  first  three  or  four  books  of  the  History,  except  two  passages 

1  It  did  not  redound  to  the  popularity  of  Socrates  that  both  Alcibiades 
and  Critias  had  been  among  his  followers  as  young  men.  Socrates,  however, 
again  showed  his  character  by  refusing  to  obey  an  illegal  command  of  the 
Thirty.  The  orator  Lysias,  afterwards  a  considerable  power,  barely  escaped 
the  Thirty  by  fleeing  from  Athens. 

*  It  is  strange  how  differently  the  acts  of  the  Athenian  demos  affect  some 
minds.  Grote  speaks  of  "  a  generous  exaltation  of  sentiment  and  an  absence 
of  ferocity  such  as  nothing  except  democracy  ever  inspired  in  Grecian  bosoms." 
In  so  far  as  a  democracy  means  self-rule  it  is  ideally  the  highest  form  of 
government,  but,  even  if  it  may  not  be  indispensable  (as  in  the  case  of  Plato's 
ideal  republic)  that  all  self -rulers  shall  be  philosophers,  it  is  surely  necessary 
that  they  shall  be  incapable  of  such  insanities  and  atrocities  as  those  perpe- 
trated by  the  Athenian  mob. 

345 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
inserted  later,  were  finally  composed  (from  his  notes)  during 
his  exile  in  the  pause  that  occurred  after  the  Peace  of  Nicias 
(421),  and  that  he  at  that  time  considered  the  war  as  finished  ; 
but  in  Book  V  he  protests  against  this  view,  and  regards  the 
subsequent  (Deceleian)  war  as  a  continuation  of  the  original 
war,  which  he  asserts  (v.  26)  to  have  lasted  twenty-seven  years. 
The  work  ends  abruptly  at  the  year  411.  Probably  he  had 
collected  material  for  the  rest,  which  had  not  been  put  into 
literary  form  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Book  VIII  was  perhaps 
*  written  up  '  from  such  notes — some  say  by  his  daughter,  or  by 
Xenophon.  Without  the  slightest  intention  of  presuming  to 
offer  what  journaHsts  call  an  '  appreciation  '  of  Thucydides,  per- 
haps I  may  note  once  more  his  critical,  analytical,  sceptical 
(or,  rather,  agnostic)  attitude,  and  his  *  surly '  reserve,  as  it 
has  been  called — qualities  which  are  possibly  admirable  in  an 
historian  and  which  offer  a  striking  contrast  to  the  urbanity 
and  humanity  of  Herodotus.  Whether  with  all  his  descriptive 
powers,  his  analytic  subtleties,  his  brilliant  antitheses,  and  his 
polite  scepticism  he  has  the  breadth  of  view  and  the  deeper  "^ 
insight  that  are  sometimes  vouchsafed  to  more  childlike  and 
sympathetic  natures  may  perhaps  be  doubted.  He  mentions 
Hesiod  and  Homer,  makes  Pericles  say,  "  We  need  no  Homer 
to  praise  us,"  and  quotes  Homer  for  historical  purposes.  But 
he  gives  no  evidence  of  any  sense  for  art  or  poetry  or  philosophy, 
such  as  is  frequent  in  Herodotus.  Such  contemporaries  as 
Aeschylus,  Pindar,  Sophocles,  Anaxagoras,  Socrates,  Pheidias 
he  does  not  deign  to  mention,  and  never  alludes  to  art,  I 
think,  except  on  one  occasion  (the  famous  ^iXoKoXovjULev  yuer' 
ein-eXe/a?,  "  We  love  what  is  beautiful  with  economy  ").  There 
is,  I  think,  in  his  book  no  sympathetic  mention  of  any 
woman,  such  as  of  Artemisia,  Atossa,  Agarista,  Gorgo,  and 
others  in  Herodotus  ;  indeed,  hardly  any  woman  is  named  but 
Brauro,  who  murdered  her  husband.  King  Pittacus.  Perhaps 
Thucydides,  like  Euripides  (whom  he  must  have  known  at 
Athens  and  also  at  the  court  of  Archelaus  in  Macedonia), 
was  a  confirmed  misogynist.  Anyhow,  he  was  no  admirer  of 
female  notorieties,  and  evidently  agreed  warmly  with  what 
346 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

he  makes  Pericles  say  :  "  Great  is  her  glory  who  is  least  talked 
of  among  men  either  for  good  or  for  evil/'  Herodotus,  being  a 
colonial  and  having  lived  long  in  Ionia,  was  not  hampered 
by  old-fashioned  Athenian  proprieties  and  could  allow  range 
to  his  broader  sympathies  as  regards  women. 

(i)  Thucydides  and  his  Book 

"  Thucydides,  an  Athenian,  wrote  the  history  of  the  war 
between  the  Peloponnesians  and  the  Athenians,  how  they 
warred  against  each  other,  having  begun  directly  it  broke  out, 
with  the  expectation  that  it  would  prove  important  and  more 
worthy  of  description  than  any  that  had  preceded  it.  .  .  . 
As  for  what  was  said  on  either  side,  it  was  hard  to  remember 
the  exact  words,  both  for  me,  in  regard  to  what  I  myself 
heard,  and  for  those  who  reported  it  to  me  from  other 
quarters ;  but  as  I  thought  they  wcv^/i  have  most  likely  spoken 
on  the  subjects  from  time  to  time  before  them,  while  I  held 
as  closely  as  possible  to  the  general  sense  of  what  was  really 
said,  so  I  have  recorded  it.  But  with  regard  to  the  facts 
and  deeds  of  the  war  I  did  not  think  right  to  state  what  I 
heard  from  a  chance  informant,  nor  what  seemed  to  me 
probable,  but  I  have  related  only  those  events  at  which  I  was 
myself  present  and  those  which,  after  learning  them  from 
others,  I  have  investigated  with  all  possible  care  in  every 
detail.  .  .  .  Now  for  recitation  perhaps  the  unfabulous 
character  of  my  work  will  appear  not  very  attractive,  but  all 
who  shall  wish  to  study  what  really  happened  and  what  is 
bound  by  reason  of  human  nature  to  happen  again — in  the 
same  or  similar  forms — for  such  to  judge  it  to  be  useful  will  be 
sufficient.  The  work  is  meant  to  be  a  possession  for  ever 
rather  than  a  prize  composition  to  be  listened  to  for  a  passing 
hour.  .  .  .  The  same  Thucydides,  the  Athenian,  has  also 
written  of  all  these  things  in  order  as  they  severally  happened, 
by  summers  and  winters,  until  the  I^acedaemonians  and  their 
allies  put  an  end  to  the  empire  of  the  Athenians  and  captured 
the  lyong  Walls  and  the  Peiraeus.  ...  I  lived  on  through 
the  whole  of  the  war,  being  of  an  age  to  apprehend  events 

347 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
and  using  my  judgment  in  order  to  gain  accurate  knowledge. 
It  was  moreover  my  lot  to  be  an  exile  from  my  country  for 
twenty  years  after  my  command  of  the  expedition  to  Amphi- 
polis,  and  being,  by  reason  of  my  banishment,  present  at  the 
transactions  of  both  sides,  especially  of  the  Peloponnesians,  I 
was  enabled  to  gain  at  my  leisure  a  better  acquaintance  with 
them."     (i.  i  and  22  ;   v.  26.) 

(2)  Character  and  Policy  of  Pericles 

"  But  not  long  after,  as  a  mob  is  wont  to  do,  they  again 
elected  him  general  and  entrusted  all  public  affairs  to  him 
.  .  .  and  as  long  as  he  was  at  the  helm  of  the  state  in  time  of 
peace  he  governed  it  with  moderation  and  kept  it  in  safety, 
and  during  his  rule  it  was  at  the  height  of  its  greatness  ;  and 
when  the  war  broke  out  he  again  seems  to  have  foreseen  the 
capabilities  of  Athens  also  in  this  respect.  For  he  said  that 
if  they  kept  quiet  and  attended  to  their  navy,  and  did  not  try 
to  increase  their  empire  during  the  war  and  thus  imperil  the 
safety  of  the  state,  they  would  prove  successful — whereas 
they  did  exactly  the  contrary  in  all  these  matters,  and  in 
other  matters  too,  which  apparently  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  war,  their  policy  was  actuated  by  selfish  ambition  and 
greed  and  proved  fatal  to  themselves  and  to  their  allies.  .  .  . 
And  the  reason  [of  his  success]  was  that,  wielding  a  powerful 
influence  by  means  of  his  reputation  and  intellect  and  being 
manifestly  and  absolutely  beyond  the  range  of  bribery,  he 
controlled  the  populace  with  a  free  rein  so  that  they  followed 
his  guidance,  not  he  theirs,  because  he  said  nothing  to  please 
them  for  the  sake  of  gaining  power  by  improper  means,  but  was 
able  on  the  strength  of  his  character  to  contradict  them  even 
at  the  risk  of  their  displeasure.  Whenever,  for  instance,  he 
perceived  them  to  be  unseasonably  and  insolently  self-reliant, 
by  his  words  he  dashed  them  down  to  alarm,  and  when,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  were  unreasonably  terrified,  he  would  restore 
them  to  self-confidence.  It  was  in  name  a  democracy,  but  in 
reality  was  absolute  rule  carried  on  by  the  foremost  man  of 
the  state."     (ii.  65.) 


94-  Herodotus 


95.  Thucydides 


96.  Perici,es 


97.    Al^CIBIADES  348 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

(3)  The  Plague 

"It  is  said  to  have  first  come  from  Aethiopia  and  to  have 
spread  over  Egypt  and  lyibya  and  most  of  the  king's  territory. 
On  the  city  of  Athens  it  fell  suddenly,  first  attacking  the  people 
in  the  Peiraeus,  so  that  it  was  reported  that  the  Peloponnesians 
had  thrown  poison  into  the  tanks.  .  .  .  Now,  every  one, 
whether  physician  or  private  person,  can  say  what  he  thinks 
as  to  its  probable  origin  and  the  causes  that  he  considers 
sufficiently  powerful  to  have  produced  such  a  distemper.  I 
shall  simply  describe  it  and  state  clearly  its  symptoms  so  that 
any  one  who  notes  them  may  not  fail  to  recognize  it  if  ever 
it  should  break  out  again  ;  for  I  myself  had  the  disease  and  I 
saw  others  who  were  attacked  by  it. 

"  The  year,  as  was  generally  allowed,  happened  to  be  par- 
ticularly healthy  as  regards  all  other  disorders,  and  if  any  one 
did  have  any  previous  illness  it  always  developed  into  this. 
In  other  cases  persons  who  were  quite  well  were  suddenly  and 
without  any  apparent  reason  seized  at  first  with  violent 
feverish  headaches  and  their  eyes  became  red  and  inflamed, 
and  the  internal  parts,  throat  and  tongue,  at  once  assumed  a 
bloody  appearance  and  emitted  a  strange  and  noisome  breath. 
Then  sneezing  and  angina  came  on,  and  in  a  short  time  the 
pain  descended  to  the  chest,  accompanied  by  violent  coughing, 
and  as  soon  as  it  settled  in  the  stomach  it  produced  vomiting 
.  .  .  and  in  most  cases  the  empty  retching  caused  violent 
spasms.  Externally  the  body  was  not  excessively  hot  to  the 
touch,  nor  was  it  pallid,  but  reddish,  livid,  and  broken  out  in 
small  pimples  and  sores  ;  internally  there  was  such  intense 
heat  that  they  could  not  bear  even  the  very  lightest  garments 
or  fine  linen  to  be  laid  upon  them,  nor  to  be  anything  else  but 
naked,  and  most  gladly  would  have  thrown  themselves  into 
cold  water  ;  indeed,  many  among  those  who  were  not  taken 
care  of  did  throw  themselves  into  tanks,  overcome  by  their 
unquenchable  thirst ;  and  it  made  no  difference  however  much 
or  Httle  they  drank.  .  .  .  And  the  birds  and  quadrupeds  that 
prey  on  human  bodies  either  did  not  come  near  them,  though 

349 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
there  were  many  unburied  corpses,  or  perished  after  tasting 
them.  .  .  .  And  what  added  much  to  the  distress  was  the 
crowding  into  the  city  from  the  country,  especially  in  the 
case  of  the  newcomers,  for  as  there  were  no  houses  for  them 
they  lived  in  stifling  cabins  in  the  hot  season  of  the  year,  and 
the  mortality  spread  uncontrolled,  the  bodies  of  the  dying 
lying  one  on  the  other  or  rolling  about  half  dead  in  the  streets 
and  round  all  the  fountains,  in  their  craving  for  water.  The 
sacred  precincts  also,  in  which  they  had  camped,  were  full  of 
the  corpses  of  those  who  had  died  there,  for  the  calamity  was 
so  overwhelming  that  men,  not  knowing  what  was  to  become 
of  them,  came  to  disregard  everything  both  sacred  and  profane 
alike.  .  .  .  Such  was  the  calamity  which  befell  Athens  and 
by  which  it  was  afflicted,  the  people  dying  within  its  walls 
and  the  land  being  devastated  without."     (ii.  48  sq.) 

(4)  The  Night  Escape  from  Plataea 

"  They  made  ladders  equal  in  height  to  the  siege-wall  of 
the  enemy,  calculating  it  by  the  layers  of  bricks  where  the 
wall  looking  towards  them  happened  not  to  be  plastered. 
Many  counted  the  layers  at  the  same  time,  and  although  some 
were  bound  to  miss  the  correct  number,  most  would  hit  it, 
especially  as  they  counted  often  and  were  at  no  great  distance. 
Thus  they  ascertained  the  right  length  of  the  ladders,  guessing 
it  from  the  thickness  of  the  bricks.  Now  the  rampart  consisted 
of  a  double  line  of  walls,  which  were  about  sixteen  feet  apart, 
and  between  these  walls  quarters  had  been  built  and  assigned 
to  the  men  on  guard ;  and  they  were  continuous,  so  that  it 
seemed  to  be  one  thick  wall  with  battlements  on  both  sides. 
And  at  intervals  of  ten  battlements  there  were  large  turrets 
of  the  same  breadth  as  the  rampart,  extending  across  to  its 
inner  and  to  its  outer  front,  so  that  there  was  no  passage 
alongside  the  tower,  but  they  passed  through  its  middle.  Now 
at  night,  whenever  it  was  wet  and  stormy,  they  left  the  battle- 
ments and  kept  watch  from  the  towers,  as  these  were  at  short 
distances  from  each  other  and  were  roofed.  .  .  .  When  all 
was  ready,  having  watched  for  a  stormy  night  with  rain  and 

350 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

wind  and  at  the  same  time  moonless,  they  sallied  forth.  First 
they  crossed  the  moat  that  encircled  the  town,  then  they  got 
up  to  the  enemy's  wall  without  being  noticed  by  the  sentinels, 
who  could  not  see  far  through  the  darkness  and  could  not  hear 
them  because  the  clatter  of  the  wind  drowned  the  noise  of 
their  approach ;  moreover,  they  kept  far  apart  so  that  their 
weapons  might  not  clash  together  and  attract  notice  ;  also  they 
were  lightly  equipped  and  were  shod  only  on  the  left  foot  as 
security  against  the  [slippery]  mud.  Thus  they  reached  the 
battlemented  rampart  at  a  point  between  two  towers,  knowing 
that  here  it  was  unguarded.  First  those  who  carried  scaling- 
ladders  approached  and  planted  them  ;  then  twelve  light-armed 
men,  with  only  daggers  and  breast-plates,  mounted  ,  .  .  then 
more  with  javeHns,  whose  shields,  to  facilitate  the  advance, 
others  carried  in  the  rear,  ready  to  hand  them  over  as  soon 
as  they  came  upon  the  enemy.  When  now  a  considerable 
number  had  mounted,  the  sentinels  in  the  towers  discovered 
them,  for  one  of  the  Plataeans  in  catching  hold  of  the  battle- 
ment dislodged  a  tile,  which  made  a  noise  when  it  fell ;  and 
forthwith  a  shout  was  raised."  [The  Plataeans  nevertheless 
seized  two  towers  and  all  got  safely  over  the  double  wall ; 
but  outside  the  external  wall,  as  a  defence  against  any  attack 
from  Athens,  the  Peloponnesians  had  dug  a  second  moat, 
on  the  inner  edge  of  which  the  fugitives  now  found  themselves, 
and  in  the  meantime  300  of  the  enemy  with  torches  were 
rapidly  approaching  *'  outside  the  wall  and  in  the  direction  of 
the  shouting.'']  "  Now  the  Plataeans  from  their  dark  position 
on  the  brink  of  the  moat  saw  the  enemy  better  and  directed 
their  arrows  and  javelins  against  the  unprotected  parts  of 
their  bodies,  while  they  themselves  were  hidden  and  still 
less  easily  discerned  on  account  of  the  torches,  so  even  the  last 
of  them  got  safely  across  the  moat,  though  with  difficulty 
and  after  great  efforts,  for  ice  had  formed  upon  it,  not  firm 
enough  to  walk  upon  but  watery,  as  usual  with  a  wind  more 
easterly  than  north;  and  the  night,  being  snowy  and  with  a 
wind  of  this  kind,  had  made  the  water  in  it  deep,  so  that  they 
crossed  with  heads  barely  above  the  surface  ;  but  all  the  same 

3SI 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
it  was  the  violence  of  the  storm  to  which  they  owed  their 
escape."     (iii.  20  sq.) 

(5)    CORCYRAEAN    ATROCITIES 

"  They  [i.e.  the  democrats]  then  began  to  massacre  all  of  their 
political  opponents  whom  they  had  happened  to  catch,  and 
dispatched,  while  they  were  landing  them,  all  those  whom 
they  had  persuaded  to  go  on  board.  They  also  went  to  the 
sanctuary  of  Hera  and  persuaded  about  fifty  of  the  suppliants 
to  take  their  trial,  and  then  condemned  them  all  to  death. 
Most  of  them  were  not  to  be  persuaded,  and  when  they  saw 
what  was  being  done  they  slew  one  another  there  in  the  sacred 
precinct.  Some  hanged  themselves  on  the  trees,  others  killed 
themselves  as  they  could.  During  the  seven  days  that 
Eurymedon  remained  there  with  his  sixty  ships  the  Corcyraeans 
went  on  murdering  those  of  their  fellow-countrymen  whom 
they  believed  to  be  hostile  to  them.  They  accused  them  of 
abolishing  democracy ;  but  some  were  killed  for  private 
enmity,  and  others  were  slain  by  their  debtors  for  money  owed 
them.  Every  kind  of  death  was  experienced,  and  all  that  is 
wont  to  happen  at  such  times  happened  now,  and  still  worse  ; 
for  father  slew  son  and  men  were  dragged  out  of  sanctuaries 
and  slain  near  them,  while  some  were  walled  up  in  the  temple 
of  Dionysus  and  thus  perished.  So  bloody  was  the  course  of 
the  revolution."  (iii.  81.  See  also  remarks  by  Thucydides  in 
82,  83.) 

''  When  the  Corcyraean  [democrats]  had  caught  them,  they 
confined  them  in  a  large  building.  Then  they  took  them  out 
by  twenties  and  led  them  roped  together  through  two  ranks 
of  heavy- armed  men,  who  smote  and  stabbed  any  personal 
enemies  they  saw.  And  men  with  whips  went  by  their  side, 
hastening  on  their  way  those  who  were  going  too  slowly.  As 
many  as  sixty  they  had  thus  led  forth  and  butchered  without 
raising  the  suspicions  of  those  in  the  building,  who  thought 
they  were  being  removed  to  some  other  place.  But  when 
they  learnt  the  truth  (some  one  having  informed  them)  they 
refused  to  leave  the  building.  So  the  Corcyraeans,  not 
352 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

being  disposed  to  force  their  way  in  by  the  doors,  climbed  up 
on  to  the  top  of  the  building,  and,  having  broken  through 
the  roof,  began  to  hurl  the  tiles  and  shoot  arrows  down  on  them. 
And  they  defended  themselves  as  best  they  could,  while  at 
the  same  time  many  tried  to  kill  themselves  by  thrusting 
down  their  throats  the  arrows  discharged  by  their  assailants 
and  by  strangling  themselves  with  the  cords  of  certain  bedsteads 
which  happened  to  be  in  the  building  and  by  strips  that  they 
tore  off  their  clothing,  and  thus  in  divers  ways  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  night  (for  night  came  on  during  these  atro- 
cities), either  by  laying  hands  on  themselves  or  by  being 
struck  by  missiles  from  above,  they  perished.  And  when  it  was 
day  the  Corcyraeans  piled  them  in  cross  layers  on  wagons  and 
carried  them  out  of  the  city  ;  and  all  the  women  who  had  been 
captured  in  the  fortress  [Istone]  they  enslaved.''     (iv.  47  sq.) 

(6)  Sea-fight  in  the  Harbour  of  Syracuse 

"  When  the  Athenians  came  near  the  bar  [formed  by 
vessels  and  chains  stretched  across  the  harbour  mouth] 
they  charged,  and  with  their  first  onset  they  got  the  better 
of  the  ships  posted  near  it  and  tried  to  loosen  the  fastenings. 
But  soon  afterwards  the  Syracusans  and  their  alHes  bore  down 
on  them  from  all  quarters,  and  the  fight  no  longer  went  on 
only  near  the  bar,  but  became  general  all  over  the  harbour ; 
and  it  was  a  severe  engagement,  such  as  no  previous  one  had 
been.  .  .  .  And  as  a  great  number  of  vessels  attacked  each 
other  in  a  small  space  (indeed,  never  had  so  many  fought  together 
in  so  small  a  space,  for  altogether  they  fell  scarcely  short  of 
two  hundred)  ramming  was  httle  used,  as  to  back  water  or  to 
break  through  the  enemy's  fine  was  impossible,  but  collisions 
were  more  frequent,  just  as  one  ship  might  chance  to  run  into 
another  while  flying  from  or  attacking  its  adversary.  Now, 
as  long  as  a  vessel  was  bearing  down  on  another  those  on  the 
decks  used  javelins  and  arrows  and  stones  in  great  quantities 
against  it,  but  when  they  came  to  close  quarters  the  seamen 
\  fought  hand  to  hand  and  tried  to  board  each  other's  ships, 
^nd  on  account  of  the  narrow  space  it  often  happened  that 

2  353 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
while  tiiey  were  charging  others  they  themselves  were  being 
charged,  and  that  two,  or  even  sometimes  several,  vessels 
were  forcibly  entangled  round  one.  .  .  .  The  foot-soldiers 
of  both  sides  on  shore,  while  the  result  of  the  sea-fight  hung 
in  the  balance,  experienced  an  intense  anguish  and  conflict  of 
f eehngs,  the  man  of  Sicily  being  eager  for  still  greater  honour  and 
the  invaders  fearing  to  fare  still  worse  than  hitherto.  For  since 
with  the  Athenians  all  was  staked  on  their  ships  their  anxiety 
as  to  the  result  was  Hke  none  they  had  ever  felt  before  .  .  . 
and  every  kind  of  clamour  was  to  be  heard,  lamentation  and 
triumph,  '  They  conquer  I  '  '  They  are  beaten  I  '  and  other  such 
various  exclamations  as  a  great  armament  in  great  danger 
would  be  constrained  to  utter — until  finally,  after  the  fighting 
had  lasted  for  a  long  time,  the  Syracusans  and  their  allies 
routed  the  Athenians,  and,  following  up  their  advantage 
brilhantly,  with  great  shouting  and  cheering  pursued  them  to 
the  shore."     (vii.  70  sq.) 

(7)  The  Retreat  from  Syracuse 

"  It  was  pitiable,  not  only  because  of  the  fact  that  they  were 
retreating  after  having  lost  all  their  ships  and  all  their  high 
hopes,  and  having  brought  themselves,  and  Athens  too,  into 
peril,  but  also  because  on  leaving  the  encampment  they  all 
had  to  look  upon  things  grievous  to  the  sight  and  grievous  to 
the  mind ;  for  the  dead  were  unburied,  and  whenever  any 
saw  one  of  his  friends  lying  there  he  was  filled  with  grief  and 
with  fear  ;  and  the  living  who  were  being  abandoned,  the 
wounded  and  the  sick,  were  to  the  living  much  more  painful 
than  were  the  dead,  and  more  piteous  than  those  who  had 
perished,  for,  betaking  themselves  to  entreaty  and  to  wailing, 
they  drove  them  into  despair,  begging  to  be  taken,  and  calhng 
upon  each  one  individually,  if  they  saw  anywhere  any  friend 
or  relation,  and  hanging  on  to  their  comrades  as  they  were 
on  the  point  of  departure,  and  following  as  far  as  they 
could ;  and  if  strength  or  bodily  power  failed  they  were  left 
behind  not  without  many  adjurations  to  the  gods  and  many 
groans.     So  the  whole  army,  filled  with  tears  and  distress  of 

354 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

this  kind,  did  find  departure  easy,  though  it  was  from  a  hostile 
country  and  though  they  had  already  suffered  woes  too  deep 
for  tears,  and  were  full  of  anxiety  as  to  their  sufferings  in  the 
unknown  future.  They  resembled  nothing  so  much  as  a  city 
starved  out  and  trying  to  escape  by  stealth — and  no  small 
city,  for  the  whole  multitude  that  started  numbered  not  less 
than  forty  thousand."     (vii.  75.) 

(8)  The  Surrender 

"  The  Athenians  pressed  on  towards  the  river  Assinarus, 
being  urged  to  do  this  by  the  attacks  of  the  enemy  and  also 
by  weariness  and  the  craving  for  water ;  and  when  they 
reached  it  they  cast  themselves  into  it  with  no  further  regard 
for  order,  every  one  wishing  to  get  across  first,  while  the  enemy 
assailed  them  and  made  the  crossing  difficult.  For,  being 
compelled  to  advance  in  a  dense  mass,  they  fell  on  the  top  of 
one  another  and  trod  one  another  down,  and  some  were  killed 
by  falHng  on  the  javeHns  and  baggage,  and  others  got  entangled 
and  were  swept  down-stream.  On  the  further  bank,  which  was 
precipitous,  stood  the  Syracusans  and  launched  their  missiles 
down  on  the  Athenians  while  most  of  them  were  drinking 
eagerly  and  crowding  together  confusedly  in  the  hollow  river- 
bed. Moreover,  the  Peloponnesians  came  down  to  attack  them, 
and  slaughtered  those  especially  who  were  in  the  river.  And  the 
water  was  forthwith  spoiled,  but  none  the  less  it  was  drunk  by 
them  together  with  the  mud,  all  bloody,  and  was  even  fought 
for  by  most  of  them.  At  last,  when  many  dead  bodies  were 
already  lying  one  upon  the  other  in  the  river  and  the  army  had 
been  cut  to  pieces,  some  of  it  in  the  river-bed  and  whatever 
part  escaped  thence  by  the  cavalry,  Nicias  surrendered  to 
GyHppus."     (vii.  84.) 

SECTION  B :  SOPHOCLES  :  EURIPIDES  :  ARISTOPHANES 

In  the  tragedies  of  Aeschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides  we 
can  trace  the  same  kind  of  development — or,  as  some  would 
call  it,  degeneration — that  is  noticeable  in  the  three  principal 

355 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
stages  of  Greek  sculpture.  First  we  have  the  supernatural, 
the  mysterious,  the  terrible,  the  subHme — forms  of  more  than 
mortal  grandeur  and  a  spirit  ofttimes  majestically  disdainful 
of  ordinary  humanity  ;  then  man's  nature  idealized  and  the 
perfect  balance  and  exquisite  symmetry  of  the  human  form 
divine — the  mortal  as  he  should  be  rather  than  as  he  is,  such 
as  we  see  him  in  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  Sophocles  and  in 
the  works  of  Polycleitus  and  the  still  more  gracious  forms  of 
Praxiteles ;  then  the  attempt  to  portray  in  sculpture  and  in 
sculpturesque  drama  the  diversity  and  passion  and  movement 
of  actual  life,  with  details  which,  however  significant  and 
interesting  they  may  be  in  life  itself,  often  become  trivial  or 
offensive  when  borrowed  by  the  artist  for  purposes  of  sensa- 
tion, pathos,  or  prettiness. 

A  vast  amount  of  learning  and  acumen  has  been  employed 
in  studying  and  contrasting  the  special  characteristics  of 
these  three  great  poets,  and  for  those  who  take  interest  in  such 
questions  there  is  an  abundance  of  literature,  from  the  Frogs 
of  Aristophanes  (of  which  Frere's  sprightly  version  is  good 
reading)  to  the  latest  modern  '  appreciations,'  German, 
French,  or  English.  More  satisfactory  it  is,  of  course,  to 
form  one's  own  opinion  by  reading  the  plays  themselves,  of 
which  fair  verse  translations  exist,  or,  still  better,  by  seeing 
them  acted  ;  for  these  old  Greek  poets  are  still  a  hving 
power  on  the  stage,  and,  even  when  roughly  translated 
into  modern  languages,  their  works  produce  surprising 
emotional  effects  on  audiences  to  a  great  extent  ignorant 
of  the  original  poems  and  of  the  subjects  that  they  treat. 
The  '  appreciation,'  moreover,  of  the  literary  critic  is  not 
always  very  trustworthy  or  edifying,  for  he  is  too  apt 
to  use  the  foil  of  depreciation — and  that  not  merely  for 
purposes  of  comedy,  as  did  Aristophanes — and  to  waste 
our  time  in  formulating  his  ideas  about  the  *  unfeminine ' 
and  '  degenerate '  heroines  of  Sophocles,  the  *  disagreeable 
features '  of  Antigone  and  her  '  vast  inferiority  to  Alcestis,' 
and  so  on,  or  in  expressing  his  contempt  for  the  beggar- 
heroes,  the  enamoured  dames,  the  querulous  old  men,  the 
356 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

effusive  rhetoric,  the  sophistries,  and  the  '  absurdities '  of 
Euripides.^ 

Few  perhaps  can  admire  equally  things  so  different  as  the 
stern  grandeur  of  Aeschylus,  the  perfect  art,  the  sculpturesque 
strength,  dignity,  and  beauty  of  Sophocles,  and  the  vivid 
colouring,  the  living  warmth,  and  varied  movement  of  Euri- 
pides ;  but  even  though  we  may  with  Aristophanes  place 
Aeschylus  (or  Sophocles  in  his  absence)  on  the  throne  of  tragedy, 
we  must  surely  be  insensate  if  we  do  not  feel  moved  by  much 
in  the  plays  of  Euripides,  by  his  passionate,  almost  Words- 
worthian  love  for  our  common  humanity  and  for  the  beauty 
of  Nature,  and  by  his  pathetic  power,  which  has  never, 
perhaps,  been  equalled  except  by  Shakespeare — a  power  so 
supreme  that  Aristotle,  the  master  of  all  critics,  calls  him 
"  the  most  tragic  of  the  poets/'  How  deeply  he  aroused 
the  admiration  of  the  ancients  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
eighteen  of  his  plays  (as  against  seven  by  Sophocles)  have 
survived,  besides  a  great  number  of  fragments,  which  still 
receive  frequent  additions  from  Egyptian  papyri.  Dante,  the 
greatest  of  mediaeval  poets,  refers  to  him,  though  he  mentions 
neither  Aeschylus  nor  Sophocles.  Browning's  BalausHon, 
besides  being  a  tribute  of  intense  admiration  from  a  great 
modem  poet  to 

Euripides,  the  Human 
With  his  droppings  of  warm  tears, 

And  his  touches  of  things  common 
Till  they  rose  to  touch  the  spheres, 

is  founded  on  an  historical  fact  that  proves  how  magical 
among  the  ancients  was  the  influence  of  the  last  Athenian 
tragedian.  "  Numbers  of  the  Athenian  captives  in  Sicily," 
says  Plutarch,  "  were  saved  by  Euripides,  and  when  they  had 
returned  home  they  greeted  him  with  gratitude  and  related 
how  by  singing  his  poems,  as  much  as  they  could  remember, 
they  had  been  released  from  slavery,  or  how,  when  wandering 

1  See,  for  instance,  Schlegel's  Dramatic  Literature.  Such  sophistries  as  the  oft- 
quoted  "  My  tongue  swore  it,  but  my  mind  remained  unsworn,"  may  not  prove 
that  the  poet  himself  approved  of  mean  mental  reservations,  but  they  certainly 
do  bring  us  down  to  a  very  low  level.     Cf.  Mahaffy's  Social  Life  in  Greece. 

357 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

about  after  the  battle,  they  had  by  the  same  means  procured 
food  and  drink."  AeHan,  too,  tells  us  that  Socrates  seldom 
went  to  the  theatre  except  to  see  some  new  play  of  Euripides, 
and  the  philosopher  is  even  suspected  of  having  had  a  hand  in 
some  of  these  plays. 

A  few  biographical  facts  and  a  brief  account  of  some  of 
the  chief  plays  of  Sophocles  and  Euripides  may  be  of  more 
use  than  comment.  %^  ^ 

Sophocles  was  born  about  495  at  Colonus,  near  Athens.  He 
is  said  to  have  led  the  chorus  of  boys  at  the  rejoicings  after 
Salamis,  "  dancing  and  playing  on  the  lyre  around  the  trophy." 
As  already  related,  he  conquered  Aeschylus  in  468,  when 
Cimon  and  the  other  generals  voted  for  his  Triptolemus.  About 
440  he  brought  out  his  Antigone,  which,  probably  against  his 
wishes,  procured  him  his  election  as  a  general  in  the  expedition 
against  Samos  (p.  296).  *'  I  do  my  best,"  he  is  said  to  have 
remarked,  "  since  Pericles  will  have  it  so  ;  but  I  am  no  general." 
In  413,  after  the  SiciHan  disawSter,  he  was  elected,  doubtless 
unwillingly,  as  one  of  the  *  Advisers  '  (irpof^ovkoi)  who  coun- 
selled the  establishment  of  the  Four  Hundred.  He  died  in  406, 
in  his  ninetieth  year.  Of  his  130  (or  113)  dramas  perhaps  half 
were  written  in  the  last  third  of  his  life.     Seven  are  extant. 

The  Antigone  (c.  440)  continues  the  story  of  the  Aeschylean 
Seven  against  Thebes.  In  spite  of  the  commands  of  her  uncle 
Creon,  who,  after  the  sons  of  Oedipus  had  slain  each  other, 
has  reinstated  himself  as  king  of  Thebes,  Antigone  determines 
to  bury  her  brother  Polyneices — which  she  does  by  sprinkling 
dust  on  his  dead  body.  She  is  condemned  to  be  buried  aHve  in 
a  tomb.  Haemon,  Creon's  son,  who  loves  her,  kills  himself, 
and  his  mother,  Eurydice,  also  commits  suicide.  The  strong 
and  impulsive  character  of  Antigone  forms  a  fine  contrast  to 
that  of  her  timid  younger  sister  Ismene,  but  perhaps  its  strength 
is  rather  too  virile. 

The  Ajax,  which  seems  from  its  form  and  style  to  be  of  early 
date,  has  for  its  subject  the  overthrow  of  a  noble  mind  by  the 
consciousness  of  shame.  As  a  so-called  psychological  study  it 
is  comparable  with  King  Lear  or  Hamlet,    In  order  to  follow  the 

358 


98.  SoPHOCIvES 


358 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

internal  action  one  must  read  the  play.  Its  external  action  is 
simple.  The  arms  of  the  dead  Achilles  have  been  adjudged  to 
Odysseus.  Ajax  in  his  furious  indignation  determines  to  make 
an  onslaught  on  the  Achaean  princes,  but  is  afflicted  by  Athene 
with  a  sudden  fit  of  insanity,  during  which  he  slaughters  a 
number  of  sheep  and  cattle,  believing  them  to  be  his  foes. 
On  his  recovery  his  sense  of  shame  drives  him  to  suicide.  After 
the  catastrophe  the  play  drags  on  rather  wearily.  Odysseus, 
though  his  great  rival,  persuades  the  Atridae  to  give  Ajax 
burial. 

The  Electra  treats  the  same  subject  as  the  Choephoroe  of 
Aeschylus  and  the  Electra  of  Euripides,  with  which  I  shall 
compare  it  later.  The  contrast  between  two  sisters,  Electra 
and  Chrysothemis,  is  not  unlike  that  depicted  in  the  Antigone. 
One  of  the  finest  passages  in  the  play  is  a  description  given  to 
Electra  by  an  old  man  of  a  chariot-race  at  the  Pythian  Games, 
in  which,  as  he  reports,  Orestes  was  killed.  The  lament  of 
Electra  over  the  funeral  urn  in  which  she  believes  the  ashes  of 
her  brother  to  be  is  as  beautiful  as  anything  in  literature,  and 
for  dramatic  effect  the  last  scene,  where  Aegisthus,  believing 
it  to  be  the  corpse  of  Orestes,  unveils  the  dead  body  of 
Clytaemnestra,  is  probably  unsurpassed. 

The  Trachiniae  (so  called  from  the  chorus,  consisting  of 
maidens  of  Trachis,  near  Thermopylae)  describes  the  fearful 
end  of  Heracles.  The  legend  is  that  when  Nessus  the  Centaur 
was  killed  by  Heracles  with  an  arrow  that  had  been  dipped 
in  Hydra  poison  he  bade  Deianira,  the  wife  of  Heracles,  pre- 
serve some  of  his  blood  as  a  love-charm.  Being  jealous  of  lole, 
a  princess  captured  by  Heracles,  Deianira  steeps  a  robe  in  this 
poisoned  blood  and  sends  it  to  him  for  a  sacrificial  ceremony. 
The  robe  cleaves  to  his  flesh  and  the  venom  enters  his  body. 
In  his  madness  he  seizes  I^ichas,  his  companion,  by  the  feet  and 
hurls  him  into  the  sea,  and  writhes  in  terrible  anguish  while 
trying  to  tear  the  clinging  poisoned  robe  from  off  his  Hmbs. 
He  is  borne  in  a  litter,  or  ship,  to  Trachis,  his  home.  Deianira 
hangs  herself.  Heracles  bids  his  son  Hyllus  bear  him  to  the 
peak  of  Mount  Oeta  and  place  him  on  a  pyre  of  wood  and 

359 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

set  it  aflame.  Hyllus  at  last  obeys,  and  the  play  ends  as 
Heracles  is  being  carried  away.  From  other  writers  we  learn 
that  Hyllus  refused  to  light  the  pyre,  which  was  done  by  a 
shepherd,  Poias,  who  was  passing  by.  This  Poias  was  father  to 
Philoctetes,  to  whom  he  bequeathed  the  bow  and  arrows 
given  him  in  gratitude  by  Heracles.  Some  say  that  Philoctetes 
himself  lit  the  pyre  and  was  given  the  weapons. 

Oedipus  Tyrannus  was  probably  composed  in  the  year  (430- 
429)  of  the  Great  Plague,  to  which  there  is  evident  allusion 
in  the  well-known  opening  Hues.  Although  written  long  after 
the  Antigone,  this  drama  and  the  Oedipus  at  Colonus  {c.  420  ?) 
were  doubtless  intended  to  form  together  with  it  a  Theban 
trilogy  on  somewhat  the  same  Hues  as  those  of  the  Aeschylean 
trilogy  to  which,  as  is  beheved,  the  Seven  against  Thebes 
belonged.  The  story  of  Oedipus — how  he,  as  was  fated,  slew 
his  own  father  and  was  wedded  to  his  own  mother,  and  how  he 
discovered  the  terrible  truth  and  blinded  himself — scarcely 
needs  recounting.  The  art  with  which  all  is  made  to  lead  up 
to  the  awful  catastrophe,  and  with  which  the  contrast  is 
depicted  between  the  powerful  and  haughty  monarch  of  the 
opening  and  the  bHnded  and  humiliated  sufferer  and  outcast 
of  the  later  scenes,  is  supremely  great.  In  the  second  play 
the  old  blind  king,  led  by  his  daughter  Antigone,  comes  to  the 
grove  of  the  Eumenides  at  Colonus,  a  village  near  Athens  (the 
birthplace  of  Sophocles).  He  feels  conscious  that  his  involun- 
tary crimes  have  now  been  atoned  for  and  that  the  Avenging 
but  Kindly  Goddesses  ^  will  receive  him.  His  other  daughter, 
Ismene,  now  joins  him,  and  Creon  of  Thebes  appears  and  tries 
to  carry  off  the  two  girls.  Theseus,  the  Athenian  king,  re- 
covers them  and  protects  the  suppliants.  Him  the  blind 
Oedipus,  as  guided  by  some  inner  light  and  by  the  calling 
of  a  voice,  leads  to  the  place  (perhaps  the  sanctuary  chasm 
of  the  Kumenides)  where  it  is  fated  that  he  shall  die  ;  and 
here  he  passes  away  from  sight. 

In  the  Philoctetes  is  related  how  Odysseus  and  Neoptolemus 

i^The  sanctuary  itself  was  in  a  cleft  of  the  Areopagus,  near  the  Acropolis, 
two  miles  from  the  village  of  Colonus. 

360 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

(son  of  Acliilles)  intend  to  carry  off  from  I^emnos  the  son  of 
Poias,  Philoctetes,  who  (see  above)  possessed  the  bow  and 
arrows  of  Heracles,  without  which  Troy  could  not  be  taken. 
Philoctetes  had  been  stung  by  a  viper,  and  the  loathsome  sore 
thus  caused  on  his  foot  had  induced  the  Greeks  before  Troy 
to  banish  him  to  lycmnos.  He  refuses  to  return,  and  at  first 
Neoptolemus  consents  to  aid  Odysseus  in  using  guile  ;  but  his 
nobler  nature  revolts,  and  he  confesses  all  to  Philoctetes. 
Heracles  then  appears  from  heaven  and  induces  Philoctetes 
to  change  his  mind. 

It  is  interesting  that  in  two  at  least  of  these  plays  the  main 
action  is  founded  on  motives  such  as  are  not  present,  or  not 
easily  to  be  discovered,  in  any  drama  of  Aeschylus — on  the 
dictates  of  what  we  call  conscience,  or  the  moral  sense — on 
those  inviolable  unwritten  laws  of  the  heart  which  are  higher 
than  all  ordinances  proclaimed  by  human  authority  in  the 
name  of  justice  or  religion.  Both  Antigone  and  Neoptolemus 
obey  that  voice  by  which,  as  Goethe  says  in  his  Iphigenie,  the 
gods  speak  to  us  through  our  hearts.  Antigone,  '*  daring  a  holy 
crime,"  perishes,  but,  Hke  Cordelia,  proves  herself  a  conqueror 
over  death.  Neoptolemus,  like  the  heroine  of  Goethe's  play, 
will  dare  or  suffer  anything  rather  than  practise  a  mean  deceit. 
Here,  I  think,  is  intimated  a  very  essential  difference  between 
the  ethical  teaching  of  the  two  poets.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  Aeschylus  depicts  man  in  his  struggle  against  inexorable 
Fate — against  the  external  and  immutable  laws  of  Necessity  ; 
but  Sophocles  points  to  a  moral  law  within  the  heart,  which  to 
obey  is  to  conquer  destiny  and  death.  ^  In  Euripides  we  have 
indeed  at  times  admirable  courage  and  defiance  of  misfortune, 
but  it  is  the  courage  and  defiance  of  the  Stoic.  There  is  no 
deep  sense  of  the  eternal  laws  of  the  conscience,  nor  even  a 

^  "  The  interest  of  a  Sophoclean  drama  is  always  intensely  personal,  and 
is  almost  always  centred  in  an  individual  destiny.  In  other  words,  it  is  not 
historical  or  mythical,  but  ethical.  Single  persons  stand  out  magnificently  in 
Aeschylus,  but  the  action  is  always  larger  than  any  single  life,  ...  In 
Sophocles  vast  surroundings  fall  into  the  background  and  the  feelings  of  the 
spectator  are  absorbed  in  sympathy  with  the  chief  figure  on  the  stage,  round 
whom  the  other  characters  (the  chorus  included)  are  grouped  with  the  minutest 
care." — Professor  Lewis  Campbell. 

361 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

tragic  battling  against  an  overwhelming  fate,  for  all  is  guided 
by  Chance  rather  than  by  Necessity,  and  the  gods  themselves 
are  little  else  but  useful  stage  machinery.^  He  gives  us  a  picture, 
often  intensely  real  and  moving,  of  human  character  amid 
the  various  accidents  of  life ;  but,  as  tragedy  was  still  limited 
to  the  myths  of  gods  and  heroes,  the  purely  human  element 
often  causes  a  descent  from  the  sublime  to  the  commonplace, 
and  even  to  the  ridiculous,  so  that  the  remark  is  not  so  unjust 
as  it  may  seem  that  Euripides  was  the  precursor  of  the  New 
Comedy.  Indeed,  the  writers  of  this  later  comedy  of 
common  Hfe  and  character,  such  as  Menander,  acknowledged 
Euripides  as  their  model,  especially  in  dialogue,  where  clever 
repartee,  smart  epigram,  and  quotable  apophthegm  were  in 
request. 

Euripides  was  born,  some  say,  in  Salamis  on  the  very  day 
of  the  battle  (c.  September  20,  480).  When  twenty-five  years 
of  age  he  was  '  granted  a  chorus  '  (officially  allowed  to  compete), 
but  did  not  win  the  prize  till  fourteen  years  later.  Of  his  ninety- 
two  plays,  it  is  said,  only  four  or  five  were  crowned,  which 
seems  to  show  that  his  popularity  was  very  much  greater  than 
his  appreciation  by  contemporary  critics. 

I^ate  in  Hfe  (about  408)  he  withdrew  to  Thessaly,  and  thence 
to  the  court  of  King  Archelaus  of  Macedonia,  possibly  on 
account  of  the  domestic  troubles  which  embittered  so  much 
of  his  life,  or  because  his  philosophical  and  poHtical  sentiments 
exposed  him  to  danger  at  Athens.  He  died  in  406,  a  few 
months  before  Sophocles.  The  story  that  he  was  torn  to  pieces 
by  dogs  possibly  arose  from  the  fact  that  in  his  last  play,  the 
Bacchae,  written  probably  in  Macedonia,  Pentheus  is  torn  to 
pieces  by  infuriated  Bacchanals. 

Of  the  eighteen  extant  plays  of  Euripides  (excluding  the 
Rhesus,  which  is  probably  a  later  imitation,  but  including 
the  Cyclops,  the  only  surviving  classical  satyric  drama)  perhaps 
the  finest  are  the  Alcestis  (438),  Medea  (431),  Ion  (c.  420), 
and|the  two  Iphigeneias  (412-408),  the  stories  of  which  are  well 

1  In  nine  out  of  the  eighteen  extant  plays  of  Euripides  the  problem  is  solved 
by  the  appearance  of  a  deus  ex  machina. 
362 


99-  Euripides 


362 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

known  and  need  not  here  be  recounted.  ^  But  in  order  to 
illustrate  some  characteristics  of  the  poet  a  few  remarks  may 
be  made  on  one  of  his  less  known  dramas,  the  Electra.  All 
three  of  the  great  Athenian  dramatists  treated  the  subject  of 
the  Electra,  and  all  three  dramas  are  extant.  The  main  action 
of  the  Choephoroe  and  of  the  Sophoclean  Electra  has  already- 
been  briefly  intimated.  Euripides  has  chosen  the  same  story, 
namely,  the  return  of  Orestes,  his  recognition  by  his  sister  and 
the  slaying  of  Clytaemnestra  and  Aegisthus  ;  but  he  has  used 
a  very  different  setting,  his  object  doubtless  having  been  to 
bring  it  all  nearer  to  us — ''  menschlich  naher,"  as  Schiller 
expresses  it.  The  scene  opens,  not  before  the  palace  of  Argos 
or  the  tomb  of  Agamemnon  at  Mycenae,  but  before  a  cottage, 
out  of  which  steps  forth  an  old  peasant.  In  a  long  prologue — 
an  introductory  device  much  used  by  Euripides — ^he  explains 
for  the  benefit  of  the  audience,  though  evidently  talking  to 
himself,  that  Electra  had  been  forced  by  her  mother  to  marry 
him,  and  that  she  lives  with  him,  but  as  a  daughter,  not  as  a 
wife.  Electra  then  enters,  bearing  on  her  close-shorn  head  a 
pitcher,  and,  in  spite  of  the  dear  old  man's  entreaties,  insists 
on  performing  the  menial  work  of  the  household.  With  such 
a  mise-en-scene  we  might  have  had  a  very  pathetic  and  withal 
a  dignified  play  ;  but,  unfortunately,  there  is  much  that  one 
might  think  more  adapted  to  satisfy  the  taste  of  the  tragical- 
comical  players  in  Hamlet  than  that  of  an  Athenian  audience. 
After  the  catastrophe  Electra  puts  a  wreath  on  her  brother's 
head,  while  he  holds  the  head  of  Aegisthus  suspended  by  its 
hair;  she  then  pours  vituperation  and  sarcasm  on  the  dead 
man's  head.  When  Orestes,  in  his  alarm  (though  he  sees  no 
Furies,  as  in  the  Choephoroe),  determines  to  flee,  Electra 
exclaims,  a  Httle  irrationally,  *'  Who  will  now  marry  me  ?  " 
The  play  is  wound  up  by  the  appearance  ex  machina  of  Castor 

^  The  Alcestis  is  finely  translated  by  Browning  (in  Balaustion).  The  recon- 
structions of  the  Medea  by  Grillenparzer  and  of  the  Iphigeneia  in  Tauris 
by  Goethe  are  interesting  as  not  unsuccessful  attempts  at  re-creation  in 
the  modern  spirit.  The  imitations  by  Racine  and  Voltaire  are,  as  Goethe 
says,  mere  parodies.  Professor  Murray's  translations  into  English  are 
popular. 

363 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
and  Pollux,  who  order  Py lades  to  marry  Blectra  and  to  give  a 
liberal  compensation  to  the  peasant. 

But  perhaps  nothing  in  the  whole  play  '  lets  us  down  '  quite 
so  much  as  the  dehberate  and  sarcastic  way  in  which  Euripides 
expresses,  through  Blectra  (11.  524  sq.),  his  disapproval  of  the 
means  used  by  Aeschylus  to  bring  about  the  recognition, 
namely,  a  lock  of  hair  and  footprints.  Certainly  the  scar 
that  he  uses  for  the  purpose  has  Homeric  precedent  and  is 
more  satisfactory  ;  but  the  attack  on  his  great  predecessor  is 
surely  in  bad  taste  and  much  out  of  place  in  a  work  of  art. 

In  the  Iphigeneia  in  Aulis  the  dea  ex  machina,  or  rather  the 
substitution  of  a  fawn  instead  of  the  victim  by  the  invisible 
Artemis,  is  in  keeping  with  the  old  legend,  but  in  the  case  of 
the  Iphigeneia  in  Tauris  the  deadening  effect  on  our  sympathies 
of  such  contrivance  is  apparent  when  we  think  of  the  solution 
of  the  knot  by  Goethe,  who  in  the  place  of  a  stage  divinity 
makes  the  power  of  courage  and  truth  on  the  part  of  Iphigeneia 
save  her  and  her  brother  from  the  infuriated  Scythian  king. 
In  some  of  his  dramas,  such  as  the  Phoenissae,  in  which  the 
Oedipus  story  is  employed,  Euripides  alters  the  old  legends 
very  considerably  or  uses  rare  versions.  He  even  gives  con- 
tradictory versions  in  different  plays.  In  the  Helena  the 
heroine  (whom  Homer  and  Herodotus  state  to  have  been  in 
Egypt,  evidently  on  her  way  back  from  Troy  with  Menelaus) 
never  reaches  Troy  at  all.  What  accompanied  Paris  to  Troy 
was  a  wraith.  The  true  Helen  was  all  the  time  in  Egypt, 
in  charge  of  King  Proteus.  Schlegel  calls  it  the  "  merriest 
of  tragedies."  But  I  prefer  to  end  with  Goethe's  words, 
referring  to  Schlegel,  rather  than  with  Schlegel's  disparage- 
ment. "  If  a  modern  critic,"  he  said,  "  must  pick  out  faults 
in  so  great  a  master  of  drama,  he  should  do  it  on  his  knees." 

The  names  are  known  of  104  Greek  comic  poets.  About 
forty  were  writers  of  the  prisca  Comoedia,  the  Old  Attic  Comedy 
[c.  480-390) ,  and  produced  something  like  360  plays.  Of  these 
nothing  worth  mention  has  survived  except  eleven,  out  of 
perhaps  forty,  of  the  comedies  of  Aristophanes.  How  great 
364 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

our  loss  is  we  cannot  tell.  Aristophanes  was  a  great  poet  as 
well  as  a  comedian.  "  The  Graces,"  said  Plato,  "  chose  his 
mind  for  their  dwelling."  But,  excepting  his  work  and 
Terence's  paraphrases  of  Menander,  we  have  no  evidence  that 
there  was  much  of  permanent  value  in  all  this  immense  output 
of  comic  verse,  and  for  our  purpose  it  will  suffice  if,  after  a 
few  remarks  on  the  rise  of  Greek  comedy,  we  consider  briefly- 
some  of  these  eleven  plays  that  have  been  preserved  by  the 
admiration  of  Alexandrian  critics. 

Tragedy,  as  we  have  seen,  originated  at  the  vintage  festivals, 
where  the  peasants,  disguised  as  goat-eared  satyrs,  or  dressed 
in  goatskins,  danced  and  sang  their  *  goat  songs '  and  dithy- 
rambs in  honour  of  Dionysus,  and  in  course  of  time  introduced 
dialogue  and  representations  of  old  legends,  both  tragical  and 
satyric.i  Comedy,  the  song  of  '  revelry  '  (KayjuLo^ — which  is 
also  the  name  of  the  god  of  revelry),  originated,  as  Aristotle 
tells  us,  in  festivals  connected  with  the  divinities  of  fertility, 
at  which  much  carneval  licence  was  allowed  (as  at  the  Roman 
Saturnalia),  much  coarse  jesting  and  abuse  and  repartee  and 
pasquinade  and  comic  dialogue  (as  with  the  old  I^atin 
Fescennine  songs),  accompanied  by  processions  and  dances  of 
mummers  and  maskers  in  all  kinds  of  quaint  and  indecent  dis- 
guises. (On  old  Attic  vases  may  be  seen  such  maskers  depicted 
— disguised  as  birds  or  other  animals,  and  in  one  case  as  knights 
mounted  on  the  back  of  slaves.)  lyudicrous  acting  was  then 
introduced — first  mere  improvised  mummer-show.  We  hear 
of  an  early  and  rather  mythical  Attic  comic  poet,  Susarion,  but 
it  was  in  Sicily  that  comic  plays  were  first  learnt  for  recitation, 
and  it  was  Bpicharmus,  of  Sicilian  Megara  (about  500,  somewhat 

1  Plutarch  says  that  after  the  Thespian  tragical  performances  had  come 
into  vogue  the  common  people  were  discontented,  missing  the  old  humour  of 
the  original  '  tragedy  ' — i.e.  the  '  goat '  or  '  satyr  '  song — and  asked  :  "  What 
has  this  to  do  with  Dionysus  ?  "  Therefore  humorous  '  satyric  '  dramas  were 
often  acted  in  connexion  with  the  later  '  tragedies,'  which  had  become  too 
serious  for  public  taste.  In  the  greatest  of  all  tragedies,  Shakespeare's,  there 
is  humour — unintelligible  to  minds  like  Voltaire's,  but  not  to  minds  like 
that  of  Socrates,  who  affirmed  that  every  tragic  poet  should  also  be  a  comic 
poet.  Plato,  too,  calls  jesting  the  "  sister  of  earnestness,"  and  Horace  tells  us 
that  it  often  decides  great  things  better  and  quicker  than  seriousness. 

•  365 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
later  than  Thespis,  the  Attic  founder  of  tragedy),  who  first  com- 
posed parodies,  or  burlesques,  of  old  legends.  A  few  small  frag- 
ments of  his  plays  are  extant.  This  old  Sicihan  comedy  was 
transplanted  to  Athens  in  the  age  of  the  Persian  invasions,  and 
rapidly  struck  root.  It  was  ere  long  recognized  by  the  state, 
and  the  comic  poet  was  granted  a  chorus  like  the  tragedian, 
and  allowed  to  compete  publicly  for  a  prize.  Among  the 
first  Athenian  comic  poets  we  hear  of  Chionides,  Magnes, 
Crates,  Cratinus,  and  Eupolis.  The  last  two  were  early 
contemporaries  and  rivals  of  Aristophanes.  Crates  was 
perhaps  the  first  to  raise  comedy  above  personal  lampoon 
and  to  attack  vice  and  folly  in  the  abstract.  Under  Pericles 
great  licence  was  allowed  to  the  comic  poet,  but  he  might  be 
impeached  for  "  doing  wrong  to  the  people  "  by  attacking  un- 
fairly their  magistrates.  During  the  trouble  with  Samos  (440) 
comedy  was  suppressed,  and  again  when  democracy  fell  in 
411,  and  although  it  revived  with  the  democracy  it  was  no 
longer  allowed  to  satirize  pubHc  characters. 

Of  the  life  of  Aristophanes  (c.  445-380)  very  little  is  known. 
He  produced  his  first  play,  the  Banqueters,  in  427,  when 
"  hardly  more  than  a  boy,"  and  two  years  later  he  won  the  first 
prize  with  the  Acharnians,  the  earliest  of  his  extant  comedies. 
It  was  directed  against  the  iniquity  and  folly  of  the  war.  A 
good  old  Attic  farmer,  angry  at  the  constant  rejection  of  peace, 
sends  a  private  embassy  to  the  Spartans  and  secures  immunity 
for  himself  and  his  family.  He  rails  off  his  property  and 
invites  his  neighbours  to  an  open  market  and  all  the  blessings 
of  peace,  including  a  fine  banquet.  The  play  teems  with 
political  allusions.  The  consequent  complications,  social  and 
political,  are  most  ludicrous.  The  chief  butts  of  the  satire  are 
the  demagogues  and  Euripides. 

In  the  Knights  (424)  a  most  audacious  attack  was  made 
on  Cleon,  just  then  elated  by  his  success  at  Sphacteria  (p.  336). 
It  was  the  first  play  that  Aristophanes  exhibited  in  his  own 
name,  and  as  no  one  dared  to  play  the  part  of  Cleon,  nor  even 
to  make  a  mask  for  the  character  (see  1.  232),  the  poet  himself, 
it  is  said,  undertook  the  role  with  his  face  stained,  as  in  old 
366 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

times,  with  wine-lees.  Cleon  is  represented  as  the  drunken 
and  crafty  Paphlagonian  slave  and  '  demagogue '  of  the  old 
gentleman,  Demos  (the  People),  and  is  finally  outwitted  by 
a  sausage-seller.  After  ridding  himself  of  his  pestilent '  dema- 
gogue '  the  old  Demos  appears  rejuvenated,  takes  again  into 
favour  his  honest  servants  Nicias  and  Demosthenes,  and  is 
enthusiastic  for  good  old  Marathonian  times.  It  was  probably 
on  account  of  this  play  that  Cleon  brought  an  action  against 
Aristophanes  to  prove  that  he  was  an  alien  and  not  entitled 
to  exhibit  plays.  What  grounds  there  were  for  the  action  is 
uncertain,  though  it  is  possible  that  the  poet's  father  came 
from  Aegina,  or  Rhodes.  Anyhow,  the  suit  failed,  and  Aristo- 
phanes prided  himself  later  on  his  Heraclean  contest  with  the 
monster ;  but  he  never  again  ventured  on  any  such  violent 
personal  attacks  on  public  characters,  unless  we  except 
Euripides,  and  perhaps  Socrates. 

The  Clouds  (423)  is  directed  especially  against  the  sophists 
and  rhetoricians  and  the  '  modern  education.'  An  old  gentle- 
man, deep  in  debt,  takes  his  son  (evidently  typical  of  Alci- 
biades)  to  Socrates  to  be  educated  in  the  new  sophistry,  so 
as  to  free  himself  from  his  creditors  by  forensic  quibbles  ; 
but  he  suffers  so  much  from  his  up-to-date  offspring  that  he 
burns  down  the  Socratic  '  thinking  shop  '  on  the  stage.  The 
attack  on  Socrates  is  elsewhere  described  (p.  377).  It  is  evident 
that  the  humour  was  understood  by  even  such  an  admirer  of 
Socrates  as  Plato,  for  he  sent  the  play  to  Dionysius,  and  in 
the  Symposion  he  speaks  with  admiration  of  Aristophanes. 

In  the  Wasps  is  satirized  the  mania  for  lawsuits  and  serving 
as  jurymen  (dicasts),  whereby  all  home  life  and  professional 
duties  are  neglected,  the  whole  male  population  swarming 
like  wasps  to  the  law-courts.  In  421  Aristophanes  exhibited 
his  Peace,  in  which  (in  reference  to  the  Peace  of  Nicias,  concluded 
in  that  year)  a  peace-loving  Athenian  flies  up  to  heaven, 
mounted  on  a  dung-beetle,  in  search  of  the  Goddess  of  Peace. 
In  heaven,  however,  he  finds  only  the  Demon  of  War,  pounding 
up  the  cities  and  races  of  men  in  a  gigantic  mortar.  Peace 
has  been  hurled  from  heaven  and  lies  buried  in  a  deep  pit, 

367 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
whence  all  the  nations  of  Greece  haul  her  forth  with  ropes. 
The  Birds  (414),  in  which  the  building  of  '  Cloud-cuckoo 
City  '  is  described,  probably  alludes  to  the  great  air-castle 
that  the  Athenians  were  endeavouring  to  erect  by  extending 
their  empire  to  Sicily.  The  play  appeared  shortly  before  the 
disastrous  end  of  the  Sicilian  expedition.  In  the  Frogs  (405) 
the  god  Dionysus  descends,  like  a  second  Heracles,  to  Hades — 
crossing  the  Styx  amid  loud  croaking  of  the  chorus  of  frogs — 
in  order  to  bring  back  Euripides  (who  had  lately  died)  to  give 
the  Athenians,  now  in  great  political  trouble,  his  sage  advice. 
Dionysus  finds  him  disputing  with  Aeschylus  the  right  to  the 
throne  of  tragedy,  and  finally  Aeschylus  returns  to  earth  with 
Dionysus,  leaving  Sophocles  as  his  representative  in  Hades.  In 
the  remaining  extant  plays  social  questions  are  dealt  with.  In 
the  Plutus  we  have  the  unjust  distribution  of  wealth  and  the 
question  of  communism.  In  the  coarse  but  exceedingly 
humorous  Lysistrata  and  the  Women  in  Parliament  we  have  the 
rights  and  political  influence  of  women  (who  institute  a  sociahstic 
state  with  community  of  wives).  In  the  Thesmophoriazusae 
the  women  assembled  at  the  festival  of  the  Thesmophoria,  to 
which  no  men  were  admitted,  swear  to  avenge  themselves  on 
Euripides  for  his  misogyny,  and  finally  amidst  indescribable 
excitement  detect  the  presence  of  his  brother-in-law,  whom 
he  had  persuaded  to  enter  the  assembly  in  female  disguise. 

SECTION  C :  DEMOCRITUS  :  THE  SOPHISTS  :  SOCRATES 

Greek  thought  deHneates  or  suggests  in  sculpturesque  out- 
line every  philosophy  worthy  of  the  name,  and  especially 
distinct  is  the  picture  that  it  offers  us  of  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  the  conviction  that  the  ordering  force  omnipresent 
in  the  universe  cannot  be  accounted  for  by  any  supposed 
'  self-creation  '  and  *  self-movement '  of  prime  matter,  but 
solely  by  the  existence  of  an  IntelHgence  and  a  Will  that  not 
only  manifests  itself  in  the  sensible  world,  but  is  also  recogniz- 
able by  the  mind  as  the  one  Reality.  Theoretically,  at  any 
rate,  Anaxagoras  had  reached  this  doctrine,  and  we  shall  see 
368 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

later  how  Socrates  and  Plato  accepted  it  as  the  foundation 
for  their  philosophy.  But  here  it  is  necessary  to  note  a 
remarkable  genius  of  the  materialistic  or  '  mechanical '  school, 
whose  influence  aided  the  development  of  those  brilliant 
intellectuaHsts  and  fashionable  lecturers  known  as  the  Sophists. 
Democritus  of  Abdera,  in  Thrace,  was  born  in  460,  and  is 
said  to  have  lived  until  361.  He  was  perhaps  the  son  of  that 
Damasippus  who  entertained  Xerxes  at  Abdera.  After  some 
years  of  travel,  of  which  he  writes  somewhat  boastfully,  he 
resided  at  Athens,  and  seems  to  have  excited  the  dislike  of 
Anaxagoras  (his  senior  by  forty  years),  probably  on  account 
of  his  self-conceit  and  mockery — which  may  have  earned  him 
the  sobriquet  '  the  lyaugher  '  (6  y^Xoov) .  Plato,  too,  is  said 
to  have  disliked  his  writings  so  much  that  he  wished  to  collect 
and  burn  them.  lycngthy  fragments  of  these  writings  remain. 
His  style  is  praised  by  Cicero  as  similar  to  that  of  Plato.  His 
physical  theories  were  derived  from  I^eucippus,  of  whom  nothing 
is  known.  They  come  to  us  mainly  through  Epicurus  {h.  341) 
and  the  Roman  poet  lyucretius.  He,  or  lycucippus,  is  regarded 
as  the  founder  of  the  atomic  theory,  which  has  been  largely 
held  by  modern  science  and  which  supposes  matter  to  consist 
of  minute  soHd  particles  [not  infinitely  divisible,  as  Anaxagoras 
believed)  possessing  weight  and  the  power  of  coherence.  These 
'  atoms  '  Democritus  conceived  as  infinite  in  number  ;  therefore 
it  was  necessary  to  assume  a  boundless  space  to  accommodate 
them.  Through  this  boundless,  dark  Inane  streamed  Hke 
everlasting  rain  the  endless  torrents  of  atoms,  clashing  together 
and  by  fortuitous  concurrence  forming  ''  another  and  another 
frame  of  things  for  ever,"  as  is  described  by  Tennyson  in  his 
poem  Lucretius.  By  giving  his  atoms  weight  Democritus 
assumed  persistent  gravity — which  is  absurd  in  the  case  of 
bodies  moving  endlessly  through  boundless  space.  Moreover, 
atoms  acted  upon  by  any  such  force  would  "  ruin  along  th' 
inimitable  Inane  "  for  ever  in  parallel  fines  without  colfiding. 
He,  or  perhaps  Epicurus,  saw  this  difficulty  and  tried  to  meet 
it  by  asserting  that  Necessity  (self-created  from  all  eternity), 
or  else  Chance,  as  a  kind  of  side  wind,  caused  the  atom-streams 

2  A  369 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

to  deviate,  collide,  and  combine,  thus  forming  all  the  objects 
of  the  natural  world,  and  by  the  coherence  of  specially  fine 
and  durable  particles  forming  also  living  organisms  and  even 
spiritual  beings  and  the  Deity  himself.  Thus  is  the  materialist, 
if  he  is  not  content  with  agnosticism,  ever  forced  to  assume 
some  immaterial  first  cause,  even  though  he  may  not  vouchsafe 
it  intelligence  or  will.  As  ethical  thinker  Democritus  preached 
(so  did  Epicurus  later)  moderation  and  virtue  as  the  means 
of  attaining  cheerfulness — a  comfortable  state  of  mind 
(ivOvjuLLr})  like  the  Stoic's  aequus  animus  ;  and  since  no  one 
is  willingly  unhappy,  the  one  thing  necessary  for  virtue  he 
held  to  be  knowledge.  This  seems  very  like  what  Socrates 
taught,  but  the  'knowledge'  of  Democritus  (seeing  that  he 
believed  in  nothing  but  his  atoms  and  his  Inane)  was  something 
very  different  from  that  of  Socrates,  who,  if  we  are  to  believe 
Plato  rather  than  Aristophanes,  regarded  the  investigation 
of  physical  causes  as,  at  the  best,  an  innocent  form  of  recrea- 
tion, and  likened  the  erudite  and  fashionable  intellectualists 
of  the  day  to  men  eagerly  scanning  and  discussing  shadows 
cast  on  a  cavern's  wall,  while  the  rhetoric  by  which  they 
degraded  the  search  for  truth  into  a  mere  display  of  dialectic 
skill  he  disdainfully  put  on  the  same  level  as  the  art  of  cookery. 
And  yet  some  of  these  Sophists — whom  Aristotle  describes  as 
*'  trading  in  false  wisdom  " — were  men  of  great  learning,  exceed- 
ingly '  well  educated  '  from  our  modern  point  of  view.^  Such 
was  the  SiciHan  Gorgias,  who  was  sent  (427)  as  an  ambassador 
to  Athens  and  excited  there  by  his  eloquence  intense  enthu- 
siasm. Such  was  Protagoras  of  Abdera,  friend  of  Pericles 
and  Euripides,  whose  philosophy  was  summed  up  in  the  asser- 
tion that  "  man  is  the  measure  of  all,"  and  who,  according  to 
Plato,  made  by  his  teaching  more  money  than  Pheidiasand 
ten  other  sculptors,  and  was  impeached  at  Athens  for  asserting 
that  he  was  "  unable  to  know  whether  the  gods  exist,"  and  is 
said  to  have  perished  at  sea  while  fleeing  to  Sicily.     However, 

1  Some  regard  the  Sophists  as  valuable  '  spreaders  of  enlightenment,'  and 
assert  not  only  that  Socrates  was  called  a  sophistes  by  contemporaries,  but 
that  there  was  no  essential  difference  between  his  teaching  and  theirs. 

370 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

whatever  their  merits  may  have  been,  their  ideal,  which  was 
that  of  the  mere  intellectuahst,  was  entirely  false,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  Socrates,  who,  when  the  Delphic  oracle  proclaimed 
him  the  wisCvSt  of  men,  interpreted  it  to  mean  that  he  alone 
was  fully  conscious  of  his  own  "  nothingness  in  regard  to 
wisdom."  But  perhaps  I  cannot  use  my  limited  space  better 
than  by  giving  two  pictures,  copied  roughly  from  Plato,  of 
some  of  these  professional  lecturers.  The  first  is  from  the 
Hippias  Major. 

Hippias  of  Klis,  the  popular  teacher  and  lecturer,  has  been 
bragging  to  Socrates  how  he  had  been  sent  on  embassies  of 
state  and  had  also  been  going  from  city  to  city  lecturing  on 
science  and  literature  and  history  and  logic  and  ethics  and  the 
like,  and  winning  huge  renown  and  a  large  fortune  by  his 
discourses.  "  Going  to  Sicily,"  he  says,  "  in  a  very  short  time 
I  made  more  than  150  minae  [say  £600,  or  much  more  accord- 
ing to  the  present  value  of  money].  Indeed,  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  no  two  other  Sophists,  name  whom  you  will,  ever 
acquired  so  much  money.  And  even  at  Sparta,  where  the  law 
prevents  a  foreigner  from  giving  instruction  to  the  young, 
everybody  flocked  to  my  lectures  and  lavished  much  praise 
upon  me. 

"  Socr.  But  in  the  name  of  the  gods,  of  what  kind  were  those 
lectures  for  which  they  gave  you  such  rewards  and  praises  ? 
On  what  subjects  do  they  so  delight  to  hear  you  harangue  ? 
No  doubt  they  were  the  subjects  in  which  you  have  such  sur- 
passing knowledge — the  stars  and  the  celestial  phenomena. 

"  Hipp.  Yes,  sometimes.  But  the  Spartans  will  hear  no 
word  on  such  subjects. 

"  Socr.  Then  I  suppose  it  was  about  geometry  and  mathe- 
matics. 

"  Hipp.  Not  at  all.  Most  of  the  Spartans  are  ignorant  of  the 
most  elementary  rules  of  arithmetic. 

"  Socr.  Then  was  it  logic  and  the  art  of  persuasion  ?  Or 
perhaps  that  subject  in  which  you  of  all  men  are  so  expert  in 
accurately  distinguishing  and  defining,  I  mean  letters  and 
syllables  and  the  harmony  of  words  and  rhythms  ? 

371 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

"  Hipp,  The  Spartans  care  nothing  for  such  subjects. 

"  Socr.  Well,  do  tell  me — since  I  cannot  find  it  out  by  myself. 

"  Hipp.  It  was  about  genealogies  of  heroes  and  distinguished 
men,  and  about  the  migrations  of  tribes  and  settling  of  colonies, 
and  the  antiquity  and  first  founding  of  cities — in  a  word,  every- 
thing concerning  ancient  history.  And  I  have  been  obliged 
for  their  sakes  to  work  up  these  subjects  and  perfect  myself 
in  that  kind  of  knowledge. 

"  Socr.  By  Zeus,  Hippias,  it  was  fortunate  that  they  didn't 
want  you  to  give  a  list  of  all  the  archons  from  the  time  of  Solon  ! 

''  Hipp.  Why  so,  Socrates  ?  Upon  hearing  fifty  names 
repeated  only  once  I  will  undertake  to  remember  them." 

Thus  Socrates  (or  Plato)  banters  the  self-conceited  intellec- 
tualism  of  the  lecturing  Sophist. 

The  other  picture  is  from  Plato's  dialogue  Protagoras,  in 
which  Socrates  describes,  with  sly  humour,  a  scene  in  which 
are  introduced  many  of  the  more  famous  Sophists.^ 

"  Entering,  we  found  Protagoras  walking  up  and  down  the 
poxtico,  and  with  him,  on  one  side,  were  Callias,  Paralus,  and 
Charmides,  and  on  the  other  Xanthippus,  the  son  of  Pericles, 
and  Antimaerus  of  Mende,  who  bears  the  highest  reputation 
of  all  the  disciples  of  Protagoras,  and  is  studying  with  a  view 
to  hereafter  being  a  Sophist  himself.  Others  followed  behind  to 
catch  what  was  said,  seeming  chiefly  to  be  foreigners  whom 
Protagoras  brings  about  with  him  from  every  city  through 
which  he  travels,  charming  them  [kti^oov]  with  his  voice,  as 
Orpheus  of  old,  while  they  under  the  fascination  follow  the 
voice  ;  some  also  of  our  countrymen  were  in  the  train.  As 
I  viewed  the  band  [xopov]  I  was  delighted  to  observe  with 
what  caution  they  took  care  never  to  be  in  front  of  Protagoras, 
but  whenever  he  turned,  those  who  were  behind,  dividing  on 
either  side  in  a  circle,  fell  back  so  as  still  to  remain  in  the  rear. 
'  Him  past,  I  saw '  (to  speak  in  Homeric  phrase)  Hippias  of 
Elis  enthroned  beneath  the  opposite  portico  ;  around  whom, 
on  benches,  sat  Kryximachus,  Phaedrus,  and  others.     They 

^  I  have  here  borrowed  from  the  version  given  by  Archer  Butler  in  his 
Lectures  on  Ancient  Philosophy. 

372 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

seemed  to  question  Hippias  concerning  the  sublimities  of 
nature  and  the  revolutions  of  the  stars,  while  he,  reposing 
upon  his  throne,  resolved  each  successive  difficulty.  Presently 
I  came  upon  Prodicus  of  Ceos,  who  was  not  yet  risen,  but  lay 
cushioned  in  a  retired  chamber  among  bedclothes,  and  around 
him  were  Pausanias,  Adimantus,  and  others.  The  subjects 
of  their  discussion  I  could  not  gather  from  without,  though 
extremely  anxious  to  hear  Prodicus  ;  for  I  hold  him  to  be  a 
man  of  wisdom  more  than  human  ;  but  the  perpetual  rever- 
beration of  his  voice — an  extremely  deep  one — confused  the 
words  in  their  echoes." 

To  give  any  full  account  of  the  teachings  of  Socrates,  or  even 
a  bare  outline  of  the  great  structure  of  Ideal  philosophy  built 
thereupon  by  Plato,  lies  far  beyond  the  range  of  this  volume. 
I  shall  only  offer  a  few  biographical  facts  and  a  few  remarks 
and  quotations  for  the  purpose  of  intimating  the  nature  of  these 
teachings  and  this  philosophy  rather  than  of  describing  their 
exact  form.  For  the  Hfe  and  personality  of  Socrates  we  are 
chiefly  indebted  to  the  Dialogues  of  Plato  and  the  Memoirs  of 
Xenophon ;  for  his  doctrines,  although  Aristotle  tells  us  some- 
thing, we  have  to  investigate  the  fundamental  principles  of 
Platonic  philosophy,  endeavouring  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
superstructure  ;  for  how  far  Socrates  used  the  forms  of  thought 
and  imagination  (such  as  those  of  Ideas,  and  the  allegories 
of  Metamorphosis  and  Prenatal  Existence)  attributed  to  him 
by  his  great  disciple  is  quite  uncertain  ;  nor  can  we  feel  quite 
sure  that  Plato  has  given  us  a  perfectly  trustworthy  picture 
in  all  details  even  of  such  scenes  as  the  trial  and  the  last  hours 
of  his  master.  Still,  it  seems  incredible  that  he  should  have 
misrepresented  the  essential  tenets  and  the  personality  of 
Socrates,  for  it  would  have  been  at  once  detected  and  resented 
by  those  who  had  known  him,  and  who,  to  use  the  words  of 
one  of  them,  had  loved  him  as  "  the  wisest  and  justest  and. 
best  man  they  had  ever  known." 

Of  the  external  life  of  Socrates  we  know  comparatively  little, 
but  we  know  enough  to  recognize  a  noble  attempt  to  practise 

373 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

what  he  taught,  r  In  my  hfe,"  he  said  a  few  hours  before  his 
death,  *'  I  have  striven  as  much  as  I  was  able,  and  have  left 
nothing  undone,  to  become  a  true  philosopher.  Whether  I 
have  striven  in  the  right  way,  or  whether  I  have  succeeded  or 
not,  I  suppose  I  shall  learn  in  a  little  while,  when  I  reach  the 
other  world,  if  it  be  the  will  of  God.'' 

The  philosopher  was  born  about  469  in  the  demos  Alopeke 
('  The  Place  of  Foxes '),  not  far  from  Athens.  His  father  was  a 
sculptor,  or  rather  a  '  stone- worker,'  and  he  himself  attained 
such  proficiency  that  a  group  of  three  draped  Graces  made  by 
him  was  to  be  seen  on  the  Acropolis,  Pausanias  asserts,  six 
centuries  later. 

He  received  the  ordinary  '  musical '  and  gymnastic  educa- 
tion of  an  Athenian  citizen — an  education  in  the  arts  patro- 
nized by  the  Muses  and  in  athletic  exercises — the  object  of 
which  was  something  very  far  removed  from  professional  or 
mercantile  success.  His  knowledge  of  Homer  and  other  old 
poets  was  evidently  extensive.  From  Xenophon  we  learn 
that  he  was  "  fond  of  studying  the  treasures  that  wise  men  of 
old  had  left  in  their  books,"  such  as  the  abstruse  philosophy  of 
Heracleitus,  whose  book,  lent  him  by  Euripides,  he  is  said 
to  have  greatly  admired,  but  to  have  found  at  times  so  difficult 
that  "it  needed  a  Delian  diver."  With  the  mathematical, 
astronomical,  and  philosophical  works  of  Pythagoras  he  was 
acquainted,  and  in  the  Phaedo  he  tells  us  that  when  young  he 
was  passionately  fond  of  physical  science,  but  that  he  aban- 
doned it  later  as  dealing,  not  with  reaHties,  but  appearances, 
and  as  useless  except  for  merely  practical  purposes  or  as  a 
recreation.  He  seems  to  have  had  an  iron  constitution  and  to 
have  borne  unflinchingly  pain  and  fatigue  and  the  extremes 
of  heat  and  cold,  so  that  the  soldiers,  says  Alcibiades,  "  looked 
angrily  at  him."  He  went,  at  least  in  later  years,  always  bare- 
foot, and  wore  the  same  coarse,  homely  cloak  in  summer  and 
winter  alike.  His  features  were  not  at  all  such  as  one  associates 
with  intellect  or  with  Hellenism.  Neither  friends  nor  foes  spared 
their  jests  en  his  satyr-hke  physiognomy,  with  its  broad  nose, 
its  wide,  thick-lipped  mouth,  and  its  prominent,  glaring'^eyes. 

374 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

In  the  Sym^osion  Alcibiades  likens  him  to  a  figure  of  the 
satyF-gM~Silemis,  which,  when  opened,  discloses  images  of 
the  Olympian  gods.  "  He  thinks  all  such  things  as  beauty  and 
riches  of  no  value  and  spends  his  Hfe  among  us  in  irony  and 
jest.  But  when  he  is  serious  and  is  opened,  I  know  not  if  any 
of  you  have  seen  the  images  within.  But  I  have  seen  them, 
and  they  appeared  to  me  so  divine,  golden,  all-beautiful, 
and  wonderful  that  I  was  ready  to  do  in  an  instant  whatever 
Socrates  might  command.'' 

In  432,  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Peloponnesian  War, 
Socrates  served  as  a  hoplite  in  Thrace,  at  the  siege  of  Potidaea, 
and  here  he  saved  the  life  of  the  wounded  Alcibiades.  At  the 
battle  of  Delion,  in  424,  where  the  Athenians  suffered  a  serious 
defeat,  he  behaved,  as  Alcibiades  tells  us  in  the  Symposion, 
with  great  courage  in  covering  the  retreat,  and  perhaps  saved 
the  life  of  Xenophon,  carrying  him  a  long  distance.  Two  years 
after  Delion  Socrates  fought  a  third  time  for  his  country  at 
the  battle  of  Amphipolis,  and  once  more  distinguished  himself 
by  his  courage  and  endurance.  He  was  now  forty-seven  years 
old.  Some  time  before  this  he  had  taken  to  frequenting  the 
markets  and  colonnades  and  other  public  places  and  talking 
in  a  familiar  way  to  any  one,  rich  or  poor,  who  cared  to  listen 
and  answer  his  questions,  "  babbling,"  as  Alcibiades  puts  it, 
"  about  market-donkeys  and  coppersmiths  and  shoemakers 
and  tanners" — testing  those  who  thought  they  were  wise  and 
proving  that  they  knew  nothing  truly,  and  didn't  even  know 
that — plaguing  high-priests  with  some  such  elementary  question 
as  "  What  is  religion  ?  "  or  the  learned  with  "  What  is  know- 
ledge ?  "  and  poHticians  with  "  What  is  justice  ?  " — refusing  to 
accept  cant  definitions  and  current  valuations  but  going  back  to 
primary,  indisputable  facts  and  simple,  distinct  conceptions, 
to  the  true  nature  and  true  value  of  everything — beginning 
discussion  with  some  such  tiresome,  elementary  question  ^  as 
"  Do  you  allow  that  justice  is  anything  ?  and  if  so,  what  is  it  ?  " 

1  The  true  subject  of  Plato's  Republic  is  Justice,  the  ordinary  conception 
of  which  is  described  by  Socrates.  He  compares  the  high-priests  of  Justice 
in  Athens  to  men  who  undertake  to  tame  some  savage  animal.    They  learn 

375 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

— implanting  thus  in  minds  filled  with  the  conceit  of  false 
knowledge  the  seed  of  self-knowledge  and  endeavouring  to  make 
men  reaHze  their  own  ignorance  as  the  first  step  in  the  search 
for  wisdom.  As  Bacon  in  science,  so  Socrates  in  a  higher  sphere 
set  himself  and  others  the  task  (as  Bacon  says  of  himself)  of 
*'  throwing  entirely  aside  received  theories  and  conceptions 
and  applying  the  mind,  thus  cleansed,  afresh  to  facts."  It  is 
this  inductive  process,  this  search  for  a  solid  basis  of  fact 
on  which  to  build  up  a  general  law,  that  Aristotle  held  to  be 
the  most  important  factor  in  the  teachings  of  Socrates. 

Socrates  likens  himself  to  a  troublesome  gadfly,  and  doubtless 
he  did  arouse  great  resentment  among  the  fashionable  and  self- 
conceited  intellectualists  and  the  high-priests  of  Olympian 
orthodoxy,  as  any  man  is  bound  to  do  who  goes  about 
annoying  respectable  people  with  inconvenient  questions  on 
matters  which  should  be  left  to  the  care  of  theologians  and 
cabinet  ministers.  Doubtless,  too,  the  fact  that  his  example 
incited  the  young  to  disprove  the  wisdom  of  their  elders  by 
the  application  of  the  Socratic  scrutiny  must  have  winged  a 
deadly  shaft  of  accusation  against  him.  "  I  go  about,"  he 
says  in  his  Apology,  "  testing  and  examining  every  man  who 
has  the  reputation  of  being  wise,  and  if  I  find  that  he  is  not 
wise,  I  point  out  to  him  on  the  part  of  the  God  that  he  is  not 
wise.  And  I  am  so  busy  in  this  pursuit  that  I  never  had  leisure 
to  take  any  part  worth  mention  in  public  matters  nor  to  look 
after  my  private  affairs.  I  am  in  very  great  poverty  by  reason 
of  my  service  to  the  God."  Twice,  however,  we  hear  of 
his  taking  part  in  pubHc  affairs  (pp.  343,  345),  and  on  both 
occasions,  unsupported  and  at  the  peril  of  his  life,  he  refused 
to  give  his  sanction  to  gross  injustice. 

That  Socrates  had  gained  notoriety  and  had  aroused  ani- 
mosity even  as  early  as  the  battle  of  Delion  is  proved  by  the 
celebrated  scene  in  the  Clouds  of  Aristophanes  (423)  in  which 
he  is  depicted  as  a  believer  in  strange  deities  (such  as  Aether 

its  moods,  learn  what  sounds  provoke  and  soothe  it  and  how  to  manage  and 
coax  it,  and  having  thus  discovered  the  temper  and  caprices  of  the  many- 
headed  beast,  the  public,  they  call  that  justice  which  it  likes,  and  that  injustice 
of  which  it  disapproves. 

376 


■■ 

^ 

-.  f 

|k  ^ 

... .'/ 

mir-*^-'^^'' 

loo.  Socrates 


loi.    Pl,ATO 


:o2.  Aristophanes 


103.    lyYSIAS 


376 


J 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

and  King  Vortex — deities  not  unknown  to  modern  science) 
and  as  a  swindling  Sophist  and  a  corrupter  of  the  young.  But 
especially  he  is  represented  (of  course  quite  falsely)  as  a  scientist 
impiously  prying  into  the  secrets  of  Nature,  suspended  mid-air 
in  a  basket  in  order  to  examine  the  nature  and  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  and  endeavouring  to  calculate  the  length 
of  the  leaps  of  a  flea  by  dipping  its  feet  in  wax  and  using  the 
impression  as  a  measure.  Aristophanes  was  not  personally 
hostile  to  Socrates  (at  least  in  the  Symposion  the  two  seem 
on  quite  friendly  terms) ,  but  he  was  a  staunch  Conservative,  a 
praiser  of  old  Marathonian  times,  rigidly  orthodox,  strenuously 
imperialistic,  and  apparently  quite  incapable  of  distinguishing 
Socratic  wisdom  from  the  blatant  intellectualism  and  the 
atheistic  materialism  of  the  day.  Suspicion  and  resentment 
gathered  year  by  year  until  at  last  the  storm  broke,  and  he 
who  was  among  the  Greeks  the  first  to  proclaim  a  God  of  perfect 
wisdom  and  goodness,  whose  will  is  the  true  cause  of  all 
things,  and  to  assert  that  he  "  held  it  more  certain  than  any- 
thing else  that  the  soul  exists  after  death  and  that  it  will  be 
better  in  that  other  hfe  for  the  good  than  for  the  evil,"  is 
condemned  to  die  as  a  malefactor,  on  the  charge  of  *'  not 
believing  in  the  gods  of  his  country  "  and  for  "  corrupting  the 
young,"  exemplifying  to  no  small  extent  in  himself  that "  truly 
just  man  "  whom  in  Plato's  Republic  he  thus  describes  :  ''He 
will  be  misjudged,  despised,  and  hated  ;  he  will  be  condemned 
as  unjust  and  as  an  evil-doer  ;  he  will  be  scourged,  tormented, 
fettered,  have  his  eyes  burnt  out ;  and  lastly,  after  having 
suffered  all  manner  of  evil,  will  be  crucified."  The  last  scenes 
— those  of  his  trial,  imprisonment,  and  death — are  well  known, 
and  to  give  any  worthy  picture  of  them  is  here  impossible. 
I  can  only  refer  those  who  have  not  yet  read  it  to  the  vivid 
and  touching  account  given  by  Plato  in  the  Apology,  the 
Crito,  and  the  Phaedo, 

Doubtless  many  of  the  wisest  and  best  were  deeply  shocked 
and  grieved.  The  great  Athenian  rhetorician  I^ysias  is  said 
to  have  composed  a  speech  for  Socrates  to  use  in  his  defence — 
but  Socrates  would  not  use  it.   Diodorus  (who  Hved  in  the  age 

377 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
of  Julius  Caesar)  and  other  writers  assert  that  even  the  Athe- 
nian rabble  bitterly  repented  their  act,  and  put  to  death  the 
accusers  of  Socrates.  It  is  said  that  certain  verses  of  the 
Palamedes  of  Euripides  ("  Ye  have  killed,  O  Greeks,  the  all- 
wise,  the  nightingale  of  the  Muses  .  .  .  '')  made  the  audience 
burst  into  tears.  Such  hysterical  changes  of  public  sentiment 
are  common  enough,  but  although  there  were  many  who,  like 
Xenophon  and  Plato  and  Phaedo  and  Crito  and  Simmias, 
loved  Socrates  as  the  "  best  and  wisest  man  they  had  ever 
known,"  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  the  Athenian  mob  and 
its  leaders  were  capable  of  repenting  what  they  believed  to 
have  been  a  perfectly  justifiable  and  wise  extermination  of 
a  noisome  and  intolerable  influence.  Justifiable,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  dicast,  it  may  have  been,  and  some  historians, 
such  as  Grote,  who  regard  with  favour  the  Athenian  dicast, 
speak  of  the  "  marked  and  offensive  self -exaltation  '*  and  the 
"insulting  tone" — such  a  tone  as  "  dicasts  had  never  heard 
before  " — with  which  Socrates  forced  his  judges  to  '*  uphold 
the  majesty  of  the  court  and  the  constitution."  To  some  of 
us  the  unwritten  law  which  Socrates  by  his  character  and  his 
teaching  proclaimed  was  of  a  majesty  inexpressibly  more 
sacred  than  that  of  the  Athenian  dicasteries,  to  which  with 
such  calm  dignity  he  submitted  himself. 

Some  of  the  intellectual  and  imaginative  forms  in  which 
Socrates,  perhaps,  clothed  his  beliefs  will  be  mentioned  on  a 
later  occasion.  Here  I  add  only  a  few  more  words  about  the 
methods  that  he  used — so  entirely  different  from  those  employed 
by  the  fashionable  lecturers  and  teachers  of  his  day.  His 
wisdom  consisted,  as  he  tells  us,  in  the  consciousness  of  his 
own  ignorance.  "  I  never  professed,"  he  says,  *'  to  teach  any 
one  any  knowledge."  He  did  not  profess  to  impart  ready- 
made  opinion,  but  by  quiet  discussion  he  tried  gradually  to 
bring  about  a  certain  attitude  or  frame  of  mind  such  as  would 
prove  receptive  of  truth.  One  of  these  methods  was  what  is 
known  as  Socratic  irony.  In  one  way  the  '  irony  '  of  Socrates 
was,  of  course,  no  pretence — for  he  was  deeply  conscious  of  his 
own  ignorance — but  he  often  pleaded  ignorance  in  order  to 

378 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

elicit  the  definitions  of  his  opponents  or  hearers.  "  Here  is  a 
specimen  of  your  well-known  irony,"  exclaims  some  one  in  the 
Republic.  "  I  knew  all  the  time  that  you  would  refuse  to  answer, 
and  would  pretend  ignorance  and  do  everything  rather  than 
answer  a  straightforward  question."  How  far  the  respect  that 
Socrates  often  shows  for  the  learned  ignorance  of  his  opponents 
was  pretended  or  sincere  it  is  not  always  easy  to  discover,  but 
his  '  irony  '  never  has  any  tendency  to  sarcasm  ;  it  is  always 
good-natured  and  modest ;  but  nevertheless  it  must  have  often 
given  great  offence  to  self-conceit.  Another  Socratic  method 
is  what  he  calls  the  maieutic,  or  '  midwife '  method.  In 
playful  allusion  to  the  profession  of  his  mother,  Phaenarete, 
he  says  that  he  too  merely  helped  at  the  birth  of  thought — 
helped  the  labouring  mind  to  produce  its  offspring — something 
that  shall  be  its  own  by  the  rights  of  nature,  not  merely 
a  supposititious  foundhng  picked  up  in  the  gutter  of  public 
opinion. 

The  word  '  dialectic  '  (discussion)  is  used  nowadays  in  rather 
a  loose  way  to  describe  any  of  the  artifices  of  disputation  ; 
but  the  dialectic  of  Socrates  (or  Plato)  in  its  highest  sense  is 
the  discourse  of  the  mind  on  the  beliefs  of  the  soul — the  mani- 
festation in  thought  and  words  of  that ''  discussion  of  the  soul 
with  herself  which  takes  place  without  the  voice."  But,  as 
Dante  tells  us,  "  form  accords  not  always  with  the  intention  of 
art,"  and  even  the  serenest  self-communion  may  seem  sometimes 
to  take  the  form,  in  Plato's  dialogues,  of  rather  exhausting  and 
apparently  quibbling  disputation.  To  those  of  us  who  are 
impatient  for  conclusions  the  long-drawn  discussion  may  at 
times  seem  tedious  and  unprofitable.  In  some  cases  no 
conclusion  at  all  is  arrived  at,  and  one  looks  in  vain  for  any 
dogmatic  summing  up,  such  as  no  modern  writer  on  such 
subjects  could  afford  to  dispense  with,  if  he  had  any  respect 
for  the  critics.  How  entirely  different  the  object  of  Socrates 
was  from  that  of  most  who  argue  may  be  seen  from  what  he 
says  in  the  Phaedo  :  "I  am  not  in  the  least  anxious  that 
any  one  present  should  believe  in  my  theories,  except  just  as 
may  happen.  ...  If  this  is  not  true,  then  something  like  it 

379 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
may  be  true."  He  knew  well  that  the  highest  truths  were  not 
to  be  thus  attained  and  formulated — a  fact  that  is  well  stated 
in  a  letter  written  probably  by  Plato  himself. ^  "  About 
these  things,"  he  says — ^he  means  the  highest  objects  of 
philosophy — "  there  never  was  and  never  will  be  any  treatise 
of  mine.  For  a  matter  of  this  kind  cannot  be  expressed  in 
words  like  other  kinds  of  learning,  but  by  long  familiarity  and 
living  together  with  the  thing  itself  a  Hght,  as  it  were  of  a 
flame  leaping  forth,  will  suddenly  be  kindled  in  the  soul  and 
will  nourish  itself  there." 

Perhaps  it  may  be  asked  :  "Of  what  nature,  then,  was 
this  inexpressible  object  of  the  Socratic  philosophy  ?  And 
what  is  the  use  of  this  dialectic,  or  of  any  intellectual  process, 
if  it  cannot  hope  to  attain  and  formulate  the  highest  kind  of 
truth  ?  " 

What  Socrates  (or  Plato)  believed  to  be  attainable  by  intel- 
lectual processes  is  explained  in  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  most  difficult  of  the  Platonic  dialogues,  the  Theaetetus, 
where  Socrates  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  highest 
certainty  attainable  by  the  mind  is  what  he  calls  '*  a  true 
opinion  with  reason  " — that  is,  an  observed  fact  which  is 
confirmed  by  other  facts  and  can  be  classed  under  a  general 
law.  Such  inductive  truths  he  accepted  as  *  rafts,'  seaworthy 
enough  to  waft  us  over  the  waters  of  intellectual  and  practical 
life. 

But  there  are  truths  beyond  the  reach  of  the  unaided  mind 
— truths  of  which  the  knowledge  is  identical  with  virtue  (so 
that  wrong-doing  is  only  due  to  ignorance  of  such  truths,  and 
"nobody  is  willingly — but  only  ignorantly — wicked").  To 
gain  a  vision  of  such  truths  and  realities  is  possible  by  means  of 
some  contemplative  faculty,  the  "  reasoning  part  of  the  soul," 
as  it  is  called  in  the  Phaedrus,  and  dialectic  in  its  highest 
sense,  as  the  "  voiceless  discussion  of  the  soul  with  herself," 
induces  these  seasons  of  calm  weather  in  which  such  visions 

1  The  Seventh  Epistle,  which  describes  Plato's  relations  with  Dion  and  Diony- 
sius  in  Sicily,  and  seems,  although  sometimes  questioned,  to  be  genuine.  (See 
Selections  from  Plato,  edited  by  T.  W.  RoUeston.) 

380 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

are  vouchsafed.  And  should  we  wish  for  some  intimation 
of  the  nature  of  these  truths,  after  which  Socrates  searched  so 
earnestly,  perhaps  we  cannot  do  better  than  turn  to  the 
definition  that  he  has  given  of  true  philosophy.  If  we  consult 
a  text-book  of  modern  philosophy  ^  we  shall  find  that  "  Philo- 
sophy proper  is  the  science  of  the  phenomena  and  laws  of 
Mind,"  or  something  similar.  If  we  open  the  Phaedo  we  shall 
find  that  "  True  philosophy  is  nothing  else  but  the  study  of 
how  to  die  and  to  be  dead." 

But  perhaps  the  following  passage  may  still  more  clearly  inti- 
mate of  what  kind  was  that  knowledge  of  the  true  nature  and 
cause  of  all  things  which  was  the  aim  of  Socratic  philosophy. 

"  When  I  was  a  young  man,"  says  Socrates  in  the  Phaedo, 
shortly  before  drinking  the  cup  of  hemlock,  "  I  was  wondrously 
desirous  of  that  kind  of  wisdom  which  they  call  natural  science. 
It  seemed  to  me  a  very  grand  accomplishment  to  know  the 
causes  of  everything,  and  I  tossed  myself  in  speculating 
whether  matter,  when  by  alternations  of  cold  and  heat  it  has 
arrived  at  a  certain  state  of  putridity,  generates  life — and 
whether  it  was  the  blood  or  air  or  animal  heat  or  the  brain 
that  generates  intelligence  and  the  senses,  and  thence  memory 
and  opinion.  .  .  .  However,  I  received  no  advantage  from  my 
inquiries.  .  .  .  But  once  I  heard  somebody  reading  out  of  a 
book  which  he  said  was  by  Anaxagoras,  and  when  he  came  to 
that  part  in  which  he  says  that  Intelligence  [Nouc]  orders 
and  is  the  cause  of  all,  I  was  delighted  and  thought  it  an  excellent 
idea  that  Intelligence  orders  everything  and  puts  it  where  it 
is.  But  from  this  grand  hope  I  was  swept  away  when  I  read 
the  book  and  found  that  the  man  made  no  use  of  this  Intelli- 
gence in  the  ordering  of  the  cosmos,  but  talked  about  airs 
and  aethers  and  waters  and  all  kinds  of  strange  things.  And  he 
appeared  to  me  like  one  who  should  first  assert  that  all  the 
actions  of  Socrates  are  due  to  intelligence,  but  should  then 
declare  that  I  am  sitting  here  because  my  body  is  composed 
of  bones  and  muscles,  and  that  the  muscles  being  elastic  and 

^  Sir  W.  Hamilton's  Lectures.  I  suppose  the  definition  applies  rather  to 
'  psychology,'  as  it  is  now  called. 

381 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

the  bones  solid  enable  me  to  bend  my  limbs,  and  that  this  is 
the  reason  why  in  tliis  crouching  attitude  I  am  sitting  here, 
utterly  ignoring  the  true  reason,  namely,  that,  since  the 
Athenians  thought  it  better  to  condemn  me,  on  this  account  I 
also  have  thought  it  better  to  sit  here,  and  more  honourable 
to  remain  and  endure  whatever  punishment  they  may  have 
ordained.  Otherwise,  by  the  Dog,  I  think  these  muscles  and 
bones  would  have  long  ago  been  somewhere  in  Megara  or 
Boeotia."  ^ 


SECTION  D  :   SCULPTURE  {c.  440  to  c.  400) 

To  divide  anything  of  such  vitality  and  continuous  growth  as 
Greek  sculpture  into  distinct  periods  is  perhaps  unwise,  but 
much  of  what  was  produced  between  the  chief  works  of  Pheidias 
{c.  450-432)  and  those  of  Scopas  and  Praxiteles  (c.  390-360) 
seems  to  possess  marked  and  interesting  characteristics. 
Nothing  is  more  striking  in  the  wonderful  development  of 
Greek  art  and  literature  during  the  fifth  century  than  the 
rise  and  pre-eminence  of  Athenian  influence.  We  have  already 
seen  how  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  century  the  influence  of 
the  '  athletic  '  Peloponnesian  school  found  its  way  into  Attica, 
especially  through  Ageladas,  the  master  of  both  Pheidias  and 
Myron,  and  how  this  vigorous,  masculine  style,  wedded,  as  it 
were,  to  Attic  grace  and  dehcacy,  produced  the  incomparable 
art  that  we  still  admire  in  the  Parthenon  frieze  and  pediments. 
In  its  turn  the  new  and  beautiful  Athenian  style  influenced 
the  sculpture  of  the  Peloponnese  and  extended  even  to  such 
distant  regions  as  I^ycia  and  Western  Sicily. 

(i)  At  Athens  itself  we  find  lyycius,  son  of  the  great  sculptor 
Myron.  Nothing  of  his  has  survived,  but  he  is  less  of  a  mere 
name  than  many  once  famous  Greek  artists,  for  besides  the 
numerous  works  mentioned  by  old  writers,  such  as  the  cele- 
brated group  at  Olympia  representing  the  combat  between 
Achilles  and  Memnon,  he  made  one  or  more  of  the  bronze 

*  Phaedo,  xlv.  sq.,  abbreviated  in  parts. 

382 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

equestrian  statues  that  once  decorated  the  Propylaea/  and 
on  the  basis  of  one  of  these  his  name  may  still  be  read.  Another 
Athenian  sculptor,  a  Cretan  by  birth  and  Cresilas  by  name, 
is  of  greater  interest,  for  in  the  British  Museum  may  be  seen 
what  is  a  fine  copy  (Fig.  96)  of  his  bust  of  Pericles,  the  basis 
of  which  has  been  discovered  during  the  excavations  on  the 
Acropohs.  It  is  supposed  to  be  an  ideal  rather  than  a  realistic 
portrait — "  not  so  much  an  accurate  presentment  of  the 
features  of  Pericles  as  an  embodiment  and  expression  of  his 
personaHty.''  It  was  probably  one  of  the  first  statues  of  public 
men  erected  at  Athens.  As  in  the  case  of  coins,  portraiture 
in  Greek  sculpture  was  rare  till  the  fourth  century.  Even  the 
statues  erected  to  victorious  athletes  were  usually,  it  is  supposed, 
not  realistic  portraits,  nor  were,  as  a  rule,  in  earlier  times,  the 
figures  on  tombstones.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the 
statues  of  the  Tyrannicides  as  early  as  about  500,  and  such 
portraits  as  that  of  Aristion,  about  550  (Fig.  51).  A  figure  of 
Miltiades,  as  we  have  already  seen,  stood  in  the  Marathon 
trophy  at  Delphi,  and  Polygnotus  introduced  portraits  into 
his  pictures,  and  Pheidias  did  the  same  in  the  case  of  the 
notorious  shield  of  Athene  (Fig.  79)  ;  but  until  this  bust  of 
Pericles  was  set  up,  evidently  to  record  the  founder  of  the 
Parthenon  and  the  Propylaea,  no  great  Athenian  seems  to 
have  been  honoured  by  a  public  statue  in  his  lifetime. 
Another  Athenian  sculptor  of  this  period,  Strongylion,  has  real 
interest  for  us,  for  one  of  his  works,  a  colossal  bronzen  figure 
of  the  wooden  horse  of  Troy,  is  mentioned  (c.  414)  by  Aristo- 
phanes, and  its  basis  has  been  discovered  on  the  Acropolis. 

(2)  Attic  influence  in  the  Peloponnese  is  well  exemphfied  in 
the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Phigaleia,  in  Arcadia  (Fig.  84  ;  Note  A) . 
It  was  built  either  after  the  Great  Plague  of  430  or  about  ten 
years  later  by  the  Athenian  Ictinus,  the  architect  of  the 
Parthenon.  The  frieze,  which  is  complete,  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum.     It  represents   combats  between   Centaurs 

^  The  great  bronze  four-horse  chariots,  one  erected  after  the  Chalcidian 
war  in  506  and  another  probably  by  Pericles  about  446,  were  probably  placed 
on  new  bases  when  the  new  Propylaea  of  Mnesicles  was  built,  c.  437,  and 
perhaps  the  statues  by  I^ycius  were  then  erected. 

383 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
and  I^apithae  and  between  Greeks  and  Amazons.  Although 
the  execution  appears  to  be  by  local  workmen  and  is  defective, 
the  design  is  undoubtedly  by  some  great  Athenian  sculptor, 
and  the  figures  and  the  grouping  and  the  splendid,  though 
roughly  finished,  drapery  recall  the  Parthenon  sculptures. 
An  exceedingly  finely  balanced  and  vigorous  group  is  that  of 
which  Heracles  and  the  Amazon  queen  form  the  centre. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  triumph  of  Attic  influence  is  to 
be  noted  in  the  celebrated  Argive  (or  Sicyonian)  sculptor 
Polycleitus,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  fellow-pupil  of  Pheidias 
in  the  studio  of  Ageladas  at  Argos.  Polycleitus  continued 
the  traditions  of  the  Argive  school,  with  its  heavy-limbed, 
strongly  muscular,  and  highly  unintellectual  athletes,  but  he 
combined  with  massive  strength  a  certain  amount  of  Pheidian 
grace  and  proportion,  so  that  his  statues  were  regarded  as 
almost  perfect  representations  of  the  highest  ideal  of  the  human 
form,  and,  although  the  numerous  marble  copies  that  we 
possess  doubtless  give  a  very  poor  idea  of  the  bronze  originals 
(which  are  said  to  have  been  of  an  exquisite  finish) ,  we  can  still 
recognize  in  the  Spear-hearer  and  the  Diadoumenos  (an  athlete 
binding  a  fillet  round  his  head)  something  of  what  formerly 
excited  such  great  admiration.  The  former  (the  Doryphoros) 
represents  a  nude  athletic  figure  holding  a  spear  sloped  over 
his  left  shoulder,  and  was  known  as  the  '  Canon  ' — that  is, 
the  *  Rule  '  or  standard  of  perfection  in  proportion — and 
served  as  an  embodiment  of  the  rules  which  Polycleitus  pub- 
lished in  a  treatise  of  like  name.  But  he  did  not  limit  himself 
to  the  athletic  style.  Influenced  doubtless  by  the  Athene 
Parthenos  and  the  Olympian  Zeus,  he  made  a  great  chrysele- 
phantine statue  of  Hera  for  her  temple  near  Argos  ;  and  this 
Hera  is  praised  by  some  ancient  writers  as  equalhng  or  even 
surpassing  the  Pheidian  statues.  The  goddess  was  enthroned 
and  crowned  and  held  a  pomegranate  in  one  hand,  and  in  the 
other  her  sceptre,  on  which  was  perched  a  cuckoo.  The  head 
of  this  Hera  given  on  Argive  coins  (Plate  V,  7)  is  certainly  very 
much  more  beautiful  than  any  relic  of  the  Athene  Parthenos. 
On  the  site  of  the  Heraion  near  Argos  have  been  found  fragments 

384 


104.  Mourning  Athene 


105.  SteIvE  with  Woman 
carrying  Vase 


106.  Stei,e  op  Hegeso 


107.  Figure  from  Greek  Tomb 

384 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

of  its  sculptures,  which  both  in  the  grace  and  variety  of  the 
figures  and  the  floating  or  clinging  drapery  reveal  a  strong 
Attic  influence  ;  and  many  of  them  are  in  Attic  (Pentelic) 
marble.  An  exceedingly  beautiful  female  head  in  Parian 
marble,  now  at  Athens,  perhaps  belonged  to  the  pediment, 
or  to  a  decorative  statue.  If  these  sculptures  are  by  Poly- 
cleitus,  as  some  beUeve  and  many  hope,  he  must  have  been 
much  more  influenced  by  Attic  grace  than  could  be  inferred 
from  his  Spear-bearer  or  from  his  heavily  built  and  square- jowled 
Amazon  (Fig.  io8),  and  if  more  of  his  work  were  extant  we 
should  probably  feel  no  surprise  when  ancient  writers  give 
the  palm  for  '  art '  to  Polycleitus  and  for  '  grandeur '  to 
Pheidias. 

(3)  The  Nereid  Monument,  probably  a  regal  tomb,  was 
discovered  by  Sir  Charles  Fellows  in  I^ycia.  Its  remains, 
lying  scattered  by  earthquake,  were  brought  to  England  in 
1842  and  are  to  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum.  On  a  square 
base,  ornamented  with  two  bands  of  frieze,   rose  an  Ionic 

j  building,  between  whose  columns  stood  female  figures  in  float- 
ing drapery,  probably  representing  ocean  nymphs  (Nereides) 
skimming  over  the  surface  of  the  sea.  Some  of  these  recall 
vividly  the  beautiful  Victory  of  Paeonius  (Fig.  93),  and  the 
subjects  and  style  of  the  friezes  show  unmistakable  resem- 
blance to  Attic  work  (such  as  the  friezes  of  the  Athene  Nike 
temple  at  Athens)  and  to  the  Phigaleian  sculptures.  The 
date  of  the  Nereid  Monument  is  probably  about  420.  Another, 
and  perhaps  older,  lyycian  monument  which  reveals  similar 
influences  has  been  found  at  Trysa,  and  is  now  at  Vienna. 
It  is,  however,  very  weatherworn,  being  made  of  soft  stone, 
and  not,  as  the  Nereid  tomb,  of  Parian  marble. 

(4)  Greek  tombstones  {a-rfjXdi)  are  to  be  seen  in  many 
t  museums,  and  at  Athens  especially  there  is  a  very  large  number 

of  beautiful  specimens  of  Attic  work,  found  in  the  Cerameicus 
and  in  Athens  (some  built  into  the  walls  of  Themistocles), 
and  at  the  Peiraeus  and  elsewhere  in  Attica.  Some  of  these, 
such  as  that  of  Aristion  (Fig.  51),  keep  something  of  the  form 
of  the  original  stele  (i.e.  column),  which  was  anciently  erected 

2B  385 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

on  the  tumulus,  and  in  older  examples  the  single  figure  is 
perhaps  more  often  a  portrait  than  it  was  in  later  times,  when 
tombstones  seem  not  seldom  to  have  been  bought  ready  made, 
it  being  enough  if  they  represented  fairly  well  the  required 
age  and  sex.  The  single  figure  often  represented  the  deceased 
occupied  in  some  characteristic  pursuit  ^ — as  an  athlete  with 
his  strigil  and  oil-flask,  or  a  child  with  a  bird  or  a  toy,  or  a  hunter 
with  his  dog,  or  a  lady  (as  in  Fig.  io6)  with  her  jewels,  or  the 
warrior  in  battle  (Fig.  109) . 

Many  of  the  most  beautiful  and  pathetic  of  these  stelae 
date  from  the  fourth  century,  but,  as  is  natural  in  the  case 
of  funeral  monuments,  the  designs  are  generally  old  and 
carry  one  back  sometimes  to  Pheidian  days.  The  original 
narrow  pillar  gave  way  considerably  to  broader  tombstones, 
and  the  sculptured  relief  was  often  enclosed  in  an  archi- 
tectural framework.  Frequently  we  find  a  family  group 
represented,  and  a  scene  of  farewell — a  maiden  perhapvS 
having  her  sandals  put  on,  as  a  sign  of  departure,  or  a  man 
clasping  affectionately  the  hand  of  his  wife,  or  his  child,  or  his 
aged  father  or  mother.  No  relics  of  antiquity  bring  us  nearer 
to  past  ages  than  these  Athenian  tombstones,  nor  do  any 
surpass  them  in  calm  and  delicate  beauty. 

^  Thus  in  the  Odyssey  Blpenor  begs  that  his  oar  shall  be  erected  on 
his  tumulus. 


386 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   SPARTAN   AND   THE   THEBAN 

SUPREMACY 

{404-362) 

SECTIONS :  XENOPHON  :  SICIIyY  AND  THE  CARTHAGINIANS  : 
PI/ATO  :  SCUIyPTURE,  ARCHITECTURE.   AND  PAINTING 

THE  story  of  the  Persian  invasions  is  associated  with  much 
that  is  great  in  Greek  character  and  much  that  is  inte- 
resting in  the  history  of  humanity,  and  the  rise  and  fall 
of  the  Athenian  Empire  deserves  study,  in  spite  of  many 
tedious  and  many  revolting  details,  not  only  on  account  of 
the  incomparable  skill  with  which  it  is  depicted  by  Thucydides, 
but  also  because  it  has  many  points  of  contact  with  the  true 
history  of  Greece — with  the  history  of  that  Greece  which  alone 
retains  any  importance  for  our  age.  But  the  period  that 
intervened  between  the  fall  of  Athens  and  the  rise  of  the  Mace- 
donian power  is  not  of  this  nature.  It  offers,  indeed,  some 
splendid  examples  of  courage  and  self-devotion,  which  we 
must  needs  admire,  however  little  we  may  sympathize  with  the 
causes  that  called  them  forth ;  but  the  endless  quarrels  and 
battles  and  political  combinations,  details  of  which,  raked 
together  from  old  authors,  compose  what  is  generally  called 
the  history  of  this  rather  dreary  interval,  no  longer  possess  for 
us  any  appreciable  value,  except  perhaps  as  an  exercise  for 
the  memory.  I  shall,  therefore,  give  only  a  short  summary 
of  the  external  events  of  these  forty-five  years,  during  which 
the  baneful  lust  for  '  supremacy  '  ever  again  reared  its  head, 
until  a  semi-barbaric  empire  arose  against  which  ancient 
Hellas,  drained  of  her  life-blood  by  internecine  strife,  was 
powerless  to  stand. 

387 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

(i)  The  Spartan  Supremacy 

At  Aegospotami  (405)  lyysander  had  captured  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  Athenian  fleet,  and  shortly  afterwards  Athens 
was  forced  to  renounce  almost  all  her  empire  and  to  acknow- 
ledge the  supremacy  of  Sparta  both  on  sea  and  land.  For 
thirty  years  Sparta  had  proclaimed  herself  as  the  liberator 
of  Greece  from  the  enslavement  of  the  *  despot  city/  At  the 
beginning  this  claim  had  been  sanctioned  by  the  enthusiastic 
approval  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Hellenic  world,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  war  the  Ivong  Walls  of  Athens  had  been  pulled  down 
to  the  music  of  flutes  and  amid  jubilant  shouts  welcoming  the 
dawn  of  the  new  liberty.  But  the  enthusiasm  was  short-lived. 
It  was  soon  apparent  that  Sparta  had  no  intention  of  granting 
independence  to  the  cities  that  acknowledged  her  supremacy. 
Athens  was,  like  a  wounded  Honess,  too  dangerous  to  meddle 
with.  For  a  year  or  so  a  Spartan  harmost  ('  regulator,*  or 
commandant)  with  his  troops  had  occupied  the  Acropolis,  and 
a  decarchy  (oligarchy  of  ten)  managed  the  civil  government, 
but  the  wisdom  of  the  Spartan  king  Pausanias,  doubtless 
influenced  by  the  success  of  the  political  exiles  under  Thrasy- 
bulus,  finally  allowed  the  re-establishment  of  the  democracy, 
while  in  the  subject  cities  of  the  Confederacy,  now  under  the 
control  of  Sparta,  rapacious  harmosts  and  subservient  decarchies, 
from  whom  there  was  no  appeal  (as  there  had  been  under  the 
Athenian  Empire),  for  a  long  time  continued  to  exercise 
the  worst  kind  of  tyranny.  Sparta  proved  herself  wholly 
incapable  of  founding  any  pan-Hellenic  Empire.  During  her 
short-lived  supremacy  her  one  object  was  her  own  territorial 
extension,  both  in  Greece  and  in  Asia,  and  not  only  did  greed 
and  a  brutal  and  stolid  militarism  render  her  incapable  of  any 
conception  of  pan-Hellenic  federation  or  even  any  true  imperial 
policy,  but  she  also  stooped  to  the  meanest  treachery  against 
the  Hellenic  world.  The  descendants  of  the  heroes  of  Thermo- 
pylae and  Plataea,  after  overthrowing  the  Athenian  Empire  by 
Persian  aid,  purchased  by  the  betrayal  of  the  Ionic  cities,  and 
after  proving  faithless  to  their  barbarian  allies  and  attacking 

388 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

the  western  satrapies  in  the  hope  of  Asiatic  plunder,  and  after 
losing  their  naval  supremacy  at  the  battle  of  Cnidus  (394), 
overpowered  by  the  Persian  fleet  under  the  command  of  the 
fugitive  Athenian  admiral  Conon  (p.  344),  proved  capable 
of  once  more  abandoning  the  lonians  and  of  accepting  the 
humiliating  peace  (that  of  Antalcidas,  or  the  '  Peace  of  the 
Great  King  ')  by  which  Persia  was  recognized  as  the  overlord 
and  arbiter  of  the  Hellenic  states — and  this  merely  in  the  hope 
of  securing  their  own  supremacy  in  their  miserable  quarrels 
with  their  neighbours  in  Greece.  This  hope  was  frustrated  by 
the  victory  of  Thebes  at  lycuctra  in  371. 

Such  is  the  bare  outline  of  the  Spartan  hegemony,  and  into 
this  framework  the  following  facts  will  easily  fit  themselves. 

Of  the  first  period  the  most  important  fact  is  probably  the 
expedition  of  Cyrus,  related  by  Xenophon  in  his  Anabasis 
(see  Section  A  of  this  chapter).  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Cyrus  had  been  sent  by  his  father,  Darius  II,  to  supersede 
the  satrap  Tissaphernes  at  Sardis.  He  was  the  favourite  of 
his  mother.  Queen  Parysatis,  and  had  been  saved  by  her 
influence  when  his  elder  brother,  Artaxerxes,  who  had  succeeded 
Darius  in  405,  had  endeavoured  to  put  him  to  death  on  a  charge 
of  high  treason,  brought  by  Tissaphernes.  He  was  intimate 
with  the  Spartan  I^ysander,  whom  he  liberally  supplied  with 
money,  and  being  a  great  admirer  of  Greek  discipline  and 
courage  and  fully  aware  of  the  powerlessness  of  Oriental  forces 
against  even  a  small  body  of  trained  hophtes,  he  determined 
to  dethrone  his  brother,  and  set  about  enhsting  Greek  mer- 
cenaries ;  and  in  this  he  was  helped  by  the  Spartan  government, 
who  placed  700  men  at  his  disposal.  Kre  long  he  had  collected 
about  100,000  native  troops  and  a  body  of  10,600  Greek 
hoplites  under  the  command  of  Clearchus,  a  Spartan  harmost 
who  had  been  banished  for  trying  to  make  himself  the  tyrant 
of  Byzantium. 

Cyrus  had  led  his  army  through  Phrygia  and  Ivycaonia  and 
as  far  as  Tarsus  in  Cilicia  before  the  Greeks  discovered  that  the 
object  of  the  expedition  was  not,  as  had  been  given  out,  the 
punishment  of  the  robber  tribes  of  Pisidia,  but  a  more  distant 

389 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
goal,  and  it  was  not  till  they  reached  the  Euphrates  at 
Thapsacus  that  they  learnt  that  they  were  marching  against 
the  Great  King.  By  lavish  promises  of  pay  they  were  induced 
to  proceed.  The  vast  hosts  of  Artaxerxes  barred  their  progress 
at  Cunaxa,  some  sixty  miles  north  of  Babylon.  Although  the 
left  wing  of  the  barbarians  fled  in  panic  at  the  charge  of  the 
Greeks,  their  centre  and  right  outflanked^  and  surrounded  the 


much  smaller  army  of  Cyrus,  who  in  an  ecstasy  of  fury  led  a 
band  of  horsemen  against  his  brother  and  actually  succeeded 
in  wounding  him  with  a  javelin, ^  but  was  struck  in  the  eye  by 
the  javelin  of  a  Carian  soldier,  and,  together  with  all  of  his 
faithful  'table-companions,'  was  overpowered  and  slain  (401). 
Commanded  to  lay  down  their  arms,  the  Greeks  refused  to 
obey,  but  they  accepted  the  guidance  of  Tissaphernes,  who 
misled  them  towards  the  north  across  the  Tigris.  Clearchus 
and  Proxenus  and  three  other  generals  and  twenty  captains 

1  "  Wounded  him  through  the  corslet,  as  says  Ctesias  the  physician,  who 
also  says  that  he  himself  healed  him  "  {An.  i.  8).  Ctesias  was  a  Greek,  a  native 
of  Cnidus,  who  for  seventeen  years  was  the  physician  of  Artaxerxes  and  wrote 
a  history  of  Persia,  of  which  we  possess  abstracts  given  by  the  writer  Photius. 

390 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

were  induced  to  visit  the  camp  of  Tissaphernes  for  a  parley, 
and  were  massacred,  together  with  their  attendant  soldiers. 
Then  Xenophon  the  Athenian,  though  he  had  no  rank,  having 
joined  the  expedition  as  the  guest  of  Proxenus,  took  the  lead, 
and  under  his  guidance  and  that  of  the  Spartan  Cheirisophus 
the  Greeks,  striking  boldly  northward  through  Kurdistan  and 
Armenia,  after  many  sufferings  and  losses  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing the  Buxine  Sea  at  Trapezus  (Trebizond),  whence,  partly 
by  sea  and  partly  by  land,  they  made  their  way  to  Chalcedon, 
on  the  Bosporus.  After  serving  for  a  time  in  Thrace  they — 
the  6000  that  still  remained  together — crossed  over  again  to 
Asia  Minor,  where  they  found  service  against  Persia  under 
the  Spartan  general  Dercyllidas  and  under  King  Agesilaus, 
with  whom  the  remnant  returned  to  Sparta.  With  these 
survivors  of  the  Ten  Thousand  was  Xenophon,  who  for  a  time 
had  returned  to  Athens,  reaching  it  a  few  weeks  after  the  death 
of  his  much-loved  master,  Socrates  (399).  Of  his  subsequent 
life,  as  well  as  of  his  Anabasis  and  other  works,  more  will  be 
said  later. 

The  death  of  Cyrus  and  the  return  of  Tissaphernes  to  Sardis, 
intent  on  revenge,  naturally  alarmed  the  Greeks  in  Asia. 
They  appealed  to  Sparta,  and  the  Spartans,  to  whom  the 
expedition  had  revealed  the  impotence  of  Oriental  forces 
against  Greek  discipline,  tempted  by  the  hope  of  rich  plunder 
and  possibly  the  annexation  of  the  Persian  Kmpire,  sent  troops 
under  Thimbron  and  then  under  Dercyllidas.  But  after 
some  successes  they  made  a  truce  with  Tissaphernes  and 
Pharnabazus  and  sent  envoys  to  Susa  to  propose  alliance 
and  the  betrayal  of  Greek  Asia.  The  proposals  were  rejected. 
Artaxerxes  had  determined  to  prosecute  the  war  by  sea,  and 
had  set  Conon,  the  exiled  Athenian  admiral,  over  300  Phoenician 
and  Cilician  ships.  Thereupon  (in  396)  the  Spartans  sent 
out  with  large  reinforcements  their  king  Agesilaus,  who, 
lame  and  puny  in  stature  but  big  with  courage  and  ambi- 
tion, regarding  himself  as  a  second  Agamemnon, ^  dreamt  of 

^  He  tried  to  sacrifice,  like  Agamemnon,  at  Aulis  before  starting,  but  was 
expelled  by  the  Thebans — an  insult  he  never  forgave.    His  succession  to  his 

391 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
conquests  such  as  some  sixty- six  years  later  Alexander  realized. 
Having  got  rid  of  the  troublesome  and  ambitious  I^ysander 
(who  shortly  after  was  killed  at  Haliartus,  in  Boeotia),  he 
defeated  Tissaphernes — who  was  consequently  deposed  and 
murdered  by  a  successor  sent  from  Susa  by  the  influence  of 
Parysatis — and  occupied  Phrygia,  the  satrapy  of  Pharna- 
bazus  ;  but  affairs  in  Greece  compelled  the  Spartans  to  recall 
him.  Reluctantly  renouncing  his  schemes  of  Oriental  conquest, 
he  left  his  brother-in-law,  Peisander,  in  command  of  the  Greek 
fleet  and  returned  with  his  troops  by  the  overland  route — 
that  of  Xerxes — through  Thrace  and  Macedonia. 

The  troubles  in  Greece  that  had  recalled  him  were  due  to 
the  insolent  and  overbearing  conduct  of  the  Spartans,  who 
had  alienated  their  allies,  almost  exterminated  the  Kleans, 
expelled  the  fugitive  Messenians  from  Naupactus  (p.  336), 
and  caused  Athens,  Corinth,  Argos,  and  Thebes  (incited  by 
Persian  emissaries)  to  form  a  hostile  league.  Fighting  had  taken 
place  near  Corinth  ^  and  at  Haliartus,  in  Boeotia,  and  when 
Agesilaus  arrived  from  the  north  a  fierce  and  bloody  battle 
took  place  at  Coroneia  (Western  Boeotia),  in  which  the  Spartans 
were  technically  victorious  ;  but  their  king,  who  was  himself 
nearly  trampled  to  death  in  the  fight  and  was  disheartened 
by  the  news  of  the  defeat  at  Cnidus,  retreated  to  the  Pelopon- 
nese,  crossing  over  from  Delphi,  as  the  confederates  held  the 
Isthmus.  Only  a  week  or  two  before  Coroneia  (August  394) 
there  had  been  fought  a  naval  battle  near  Cnidus,  in  which 
Peisander  had  been  slain  and  his  fleet  utterly  routed  by  the 
Persian  fleet  under  the  command  of  Conon.  The  result  of 
this  defeat  was  that  all  the  Greek  cities  of  Asia  expelled  the 
Spartan  harmosts  and  acknowledged  Artaxerxes  as  their 
overlord.     The    satrap    Pharnabazus  then  with  his  Persian 

brother  Agis,  the  fellow-king  with  Pausanias  of  Sparta,  had  been  secured 
(in  spite  of  an  oracle  that  warned  against  a  '  lame  monarch  ')  by  I^ysander, 
who,  being  foiled  in  a  project  to  establish  his  own  military  dictatorship, 
and  believing  that  he  would  easily  rule  such  a  cripple,  voted  for  him  against 
the  son  of  Agis,  lycotychidas,  whom  he  accused  of  illegitimacy — as  son  of 
Alcibiades. 

^  See  explanation  of  Fig.  109  in  lyist  of  Illustrations. 

392 


io8.  Amazon  by  PoIvYCi,e;itus 


109.  Stei<E  of  Dexii^eos 


no.  From  the  Mausoi^eum 


III.  Head  of  Cnidian  Aphrodite 

392 


\^ 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

fleet  cruised  round  Greece,  overawing  the  Spartans,  and  he 
allowed  Conon  with  the  crews  of  some  of  the  Persian  ships  to 
land  at  the  Peiraeus  and  help  the  Athenians  to  rebuild  their 
lyong  Walls.  Thus  ended  the  naval  supremacy  of  Sparta, 
which  had  lasted  ten  years  (404-394). 

Her  land  supremacy  Sparta  still  upheld,  though  with  ever- 
increasing  difficulty.  Kven  in  Asia  Minor  she  still  warred 
against  Persia,  for  the  Great  King  had  again  disdainfully 
rejected  her  overtures  for  purchasing  his  alliance  by  the 
betrayal  of  the  Greek  Asiatic  cities.  At  length,  however, 
an  impolitic  and  somewhat  ungrateful  act  of  Athens — the 
support  of  the  Cypriot  king  Bvagoras  in  his  revolt  against 
Persia — gained  for  Sparta  the  favour  that  she  craved,  and 
Artaxerxes  listened  graciously  to  the  pleadings  of  her  envoy, 
Antalcidas,  and  issued  a  decree  claiming  for  himself  Cyprus 
and  all  the  Hellenic  cities  in  Asia,  and  proclaiming  himself 
the  arbiter  of  Greece.  "  If  any,"  he  said,  ''  refuse  to  accept 
this  peace,  I  shall  make  war  on  them  with  ships  and  with 
money."  This  decree  was  engraved  on  tablets  that  were 
set  up  in  all  the  chief  sanctuaries  of  the  Grecian  states.  To 
such  a  depth  of  humiliation  by  its  insane  fratricidal  feuds  had 
Greece  demeaned  herself  before  the  barbarian.  Nor  did  even 
such  a  foe  of  Persia  as  Agesilaus  seem  to  feel  the  humiliation. 
He  strongly  favoured  the  '  King's  Peace  '  (generally  known 
as  the  *  Peace  of  Antalcidas '),  and  laughingly  remarked 
that  "  the  Persians  were  I^aconizing." 

On  the  strength  of  this  understanding  with  Persia,  and  a 
similar  understanding  with  the  Sicilian  tyrant  Dionysius,  the 
Spartans  began  again  to  act  in  a  high-handed  fashion.  The 
city  of  Mantineia,  in  Arcadia,  had  at  times  given  them  trouble. 
They  now  razed  it  and  dispersed  the  population  into  the  five 
country  villages  of  which  it  had  originally  [c.  470)  been  formed 
— an  act  worthy  of  Darius  or  Xerxes.  Three  years  later 
(382)  I^acedaemonian  troops  on  their  way  towards  Macedonia 
(where  a  confederation  was  beginning  to  cause  Sparta  suspi- 
cions) seized  the  citadel  of  Thebes — a  violation  of  peace  and 
an  act  of  tyrannical  insolence  denounced  by  all  right-minded 

393 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
men  in  Hellas,  such  as  the  venerable  orator  lyysias  and  Isocrates, 
and  regarded  sorrowfully  by  Xenophon,  the  lover  of  Sparta, 
as  the  fatal  deed  that  brought  down  heaven's  just  retribution. 
This  retribution  came  surely  but  somewhat  slowly.  The 
Cadmeian  citadel  was  recaptured  by  Pelopidas  with  a  band 
of  Theban  exiles,  disguised  as  women,  and  under  the  new 
tactics  and  the  discipline  of  his  friend,  the  great  Theban 
general  Kpameinondas,  the  military  power  of  Thebes  rapidly 
grew  till  she  became  the  head  of  a  Boeotian  confederacy,  and 
as  the  rival  of  Sparta  won  the  alliance  even  of  Athens,  her 
hereditary  enemy. 

Moreover,  Athens  had  already,  since  the  crushing  defeat 
of  the  Spartan  fleet  at  Cnidus,  regained  her  naval  superiority 
and  was  again  endeavouring  to  found  another  confederacy, 
if  not  another  empire.  In  376  she  won  a  naval  victory  over 
the  Spartans  near  the  island  of  Naxos,  and  her  new  fleet, 
under  Timotheus,  the  son  of  Conon,  cruised  triumphantly 
around  the  coasts  of  the  Peloponnese,  and  an  attack  that 
the  Spartans,  aided  by  the  SiciHan  Dionysius,  made  on  Corcyra 
was  foiled  by  the  Athenians.  But  Athens  became  jealous  of 
the  rising  power  of  Thebes.  She  consented  to  an  alHance 
with  Sparta  (the  '  Peace  of  CalHas,'  371).  Thebes  was  to  have 
been  included  in  the  peace,  but  refused  to  take  the  oath  except 
as  the  head  of  the  Boeotian  confederacy.  "  Will  you  leave 
the  Boeotian  cities  independent  ?  "  asked  the  Spartan  king 
Agesilaus.  "  Will  you  leave  the  Peloponnesian  cities  in- 
dependent ?  "  replied  Kpameinondas.  The  name  of  Thebes 
was  therefore  struck  out  of  the  treaty. 

Athens  was  now  once  more  a  *  great  power,'  and  had 
Sparta  been  content  to  allow  her  the  naval  supremacy  and 
to  retain  for  herself  the  hegemony  on  land,  this  Peace  of 
Callias  might  possibly  have  brought  about  some  such  pan- 
Hellenic  federation  as  that  which  the  Athenian  orator 
Isocrates  had  so  enthusiastically  described  in  the  Panegyric 
that  he  delivered  before  the  Greeks  assembled  at  the  Olympian 
festival  (p.  437).  But  two  new  forces  had  arisen  to  disturb 
the  equilibrium — Thebes  and  Thessaly  ;  for  the  military  chief 

394 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

{tagos)  of  Thessaly,  Jason,  tyrant  of  Pherae,  was  aspiring 
to  play  a  part  similar  to  that  borne  so  successfully  a  little 
later  by  Philip  of  Macedon.  Relying  on  his  powerful  Thes- 
saHan  cavalry,  a  large  body  of  paid  hoplites,  and  a  rapidly 
increasing  navy,  he  dreamed  of  uniting  all  Hellas  under  his 
command,  and  when  in  371  the  Spartans  were  routed  and 
slaughtered  by  the  Thebans  at  lycuctra,  not  far  from  Plataea, 
in  Boeotia,  it  was  Jason  who,  though  he  arrived  too  late  to 
help  the  Thebans,  dictated  the  terms.  He  behaved  as  the 
victor,  and  overawed  all  Northern  Greece,  threatening  to 
usurp  the  rights  of  the  Amphictionic  Council  and  to  elect 
himself  president  of  the  Pythian  Games — possibly  even  to 
seize  the  treasury  at  Delphi.  But  after  four  years  his  career 
was  cut  short  by  assassination,  and  the  power  of  Thessaly 
subsided  as  rapidly  as  it  had  arisen. 

(2)  The  Theban  Supremacy  (371-362) 

lycuctra  was  won  by  the  tactics  of  Bpameinondas.  He 
adopted  and  improved  a  formation  already  used  by  the 
Thebans  at  Coroneia.  He  drew  up  his  men  in  a  wedge,  fifty 
shields  deep,  which  cut  through  the  twelve-ranked  Spartans, 
as  Xenophon  says,  "  like  the  beak  of  a  charging  trireme."  A 
thousand  lyacedaemonians,  among  them  King  Cleombrotus  and 
four  hundred  Spartiats,  were  slain.  During  the  next  nine  years 
the  Thebans  held  the  coveted  '  supremacy,'  and  again  and 
again  invaded  the  Peloponnese  under  their  '  Boeotarch ' 
Bpameinondas,  while  Pelopidas  made  frequent  expeditions 
into  Thessaly  and  Macedonia  to  support  the  cities  against  the 
despots  and  to  extend  the  Theban  hegemony. 

Both  in  the  Peloponnese  and  in  Thessaly  the  Theban 
influence,  guided  by  the  wisdom  of  Bpameinondas,  was  on  the 
side  of  liberty,  and  in  the  midst  of  continual  bloodshed  we 
hear  of  certain  acts  that  proved  beneficial  and  of  permanent 
value.  Two  great  means  of  defence  against  tyranny,  whether 
of  a  despot  ruler  or  a  despot  city,  are  confederation  and 
synoecism — that  is,  the  centralization  of  a  scattered  population 
into  fortified  towns.     This  had  induced  Sparta  to  raze  the 

395 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Arcadian  city  of  Mantineia  and  disperse  its  inhabitants,  and 
no  sooner  was  Sparta  rendered  powerless  by  the  defeat  at 
lycuctra  than  the  Mantineians  rebuilt  their  home  and  sur- 
rounded it  with  a  double  line  of  walls,  in  spite  of  the  impotent 
remonstrances  of  old  King  Agesilaus.  An  Arcadian  con- 
federation was  then  formed,  and  by  the  advice  of  Bpamei- 
nondas  a  new  federal  capital,  Megalopohs  ('  Great  City '), 
was  founded  not  far  from  the  lyaconian  border,  on  an  affluent 
of  the  Alpheus.  Thirty-eight  village  communities  formed 
the  bulk  of  its  population.  It  was  encircled  by  a  strong 
double  line  of  fortifications  more  than  five  miles  long.  The 
remains  of  its  theatre  and  the  great  federal  assembly -hall, 
the  Thersilion,  are  still  to  be  seen. 

Bpameinondas  and  his  Thebans  now  invaded  the  Pelopon- 
nese.  They  crossed  the  Kurotas  by  Amyclae  and  (what  no 
foe  had  ever  done  before)  approached  and  threatened 
Sparta  itself,  and,  had  not  prompt  assistance  arrived  from 
alHed  Peloponnesian  towns,  the  unwalled  city  would  prob- 
ably have  been  taken. ^  Bpameinondas  then  crossed  into 
Messenia,  where  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Ithome,  using  the 
site  of  the  old  stronghold  for  the  new  acropolis,  he  founded 
the  city  of  Messene,  to  populate  which  the  Messenian 
exiles,  ejected  in  399  from  Naupactus  by  the  Spartans  and 
scattered  through  the  whole  of  Hellas,  came  flocking.  This 
new  city — a  Uberia  in  which  the  former  thralls  of  Sparta  were 
now  free  citizens  of  a  hostile  state  planted  on  Spartan  terri- 
tory— ^held  its  own  until  (in  146)  it  was  incorporated  in  the 
Roman  Bmpire.  The  fortifications  of  Messene  are  described 
by  the  traveller  Pausanias  as  the  strongest  he  had  ever  seen, 
and  the  remains  (Fig.  122)  are  still  impressive. 

In  her  distress  Sparta  now  appeals  to  Athens  and  to  Diony- 
sius  of  Syracuse.  Athens,  jealous  of  Thebes,  consents  to  an 
alliance.  Dionysius  sends  troops — ^but  soon  withdraws  them. 
Constant  fightings  take  place,  among  them  a  '  tearless  battle,' 

1  The  number  of  Spartans  with  full  citizenship  at  this  time  is  said  to  have 
been  no  more  than  1500.  To  fill  up  the  ranks  of  the  fighters  thousands  of 
Helots  had  been  emancipated. 

396 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

in  which  on  the  Spartan  side  not  a  man  is  killed.  Vain  attempts 
are  made  to  patch  up  peace  by  a  conference  at  Delphi.  Then 
a  general  appeal  is  made  to  Persia  to  arbitrate  in  the  insane 
fratricidal  strife,  and  Artaxerxes  (gained  over  by  Pelopidas, 
who  went  as  envoy  to  Susa)  graciously  issues  a  rescript  dic- 
tating terms  of  peace  favourable  to  Thebes  and  insisting  on 
the  recognition  of  Messenian  independence.  But  even  the  will 
of  the  Great  King  proves  powerless. 

Also  in  Thessaly  and  Macedonia  the  Thebans  were  combating 
Spartan  and  Athenian  influence  and  supporting  liberty  against 
despotism — the  federated  cities  of  Thessaly  against  the  succes- 
sors of  Jason  of  Pherae,  and  the  free  cities  of  Chalcidice  against 
the  Macedonian  kings  (Alexander  II,  and  afterwards  the  usurper 
Ptolemy  Alorites) .  Pelopidas  succeeded  in  making  all  the  north 
of  Thessaly  a  Theban  protectorate  and  in  forcing  Macedonia 
to  acknowledge  Theban  supremacy.  From  the  usurper  Ptolemy 
he  took  hostages,  one  of  them  being  the  boy -prince  Philip 
(afterwards  the  famous  Philip  II  of  Macedon),  who  was  sent 
to  Thebes,  where  he  was  trained  in  Theban  military  science — 
soon  to  be  used  with  such  fatal  consequences.     But  fortune 
deserted  the  gallant  Pelopidas.  He  was  caught  and  imprisoned 
by  Alexander  of  Pherae,  and  it  needed  all  the  promptitude  and 
diplomacy  of  his  friend  Epameinondas  to  rescue  him.    Some 
three  years  later  he  set  forth  for  a  third  time  from  Thebes 
(against  the  warnings  of  an  ominous  solar  eclipse,  July  13,  364) 
in  order  to  aid  the  Thessalian  cities  against  the  tyrant,  and  at 
the  '  Dogs'  Heads  '  (Cynoscephalae) ,  crags  that  rise  on  the  east 
of  the  Pharsalian  plain,  he  fell  in  battle,  having  rushed  into 
the  ranks  of  the  enemy  at  the  sight  of  his  hated  adversary, 
I  as  Cyrus  did  at  Cunaxa.    Athens  meantime,  aided  by  the  skill  of 
[its  generals  Iphicrates  and  Timotheus  (son  of  Conon),  had  been 
rapidly  consolidating  her  new  empire  in  the  Aegaean  and  in 
the  parts  Thraceward.    To  check  this  a  Boeotian  fleet  of  100 
triremes  was  built,  and  Epameinondas,  scouring  the  Aegaean 
and  the  Propontis,  succeeded  in  disaffecting  several  of  the 
'Athenian  subject  allies. 
^'     Thus  the  state   of    unstable  equilibrium   continued.    For 

397 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

some  years  there  was  an  interminable  succession  of  fights 
and  alliances  and  quarrels  and  endless  political  combina- 
tions and  recombinations,  fighting,  between  Pisans  and 
Eleans,  even  going  on  in  the  sacred  Altis  of  Olympia 
during  the  celebration  of  the  games.  The  ridiculous  folly 
of  all  these  squabbles  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  we  find 
even  Mantineia,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  Sparta  and 
rebuilt  by  the  aid  of  Thebes,  now  deserting  Thebes  and 
fighting  on  the  side  of  Sparta. 

To  prevent  further  disaffection  and  to  defend  Messene  and 
Arcadia  the  Thebans  under  Epameinondas  now  made  their 
fourth  descent  on  the  Peloponnese.    They  once  again  nearly 
captured  Sparta,  the  surprise  planned  by  Epameinondas  being 
foiled  only  by  the  swiftness  of  a  Cretan  runner.    Then  on  the 
plain  to  the  south  of  Mantineia,  which  city  also  he  just  failed 
to  capture  by  surprise,  Epameinondas  (in  the  autumn  of  362) 
out-manoeuvred  the   Spartans   and   their   alHes,  and,    as   at 
Leuctra,  the  mighty  wedge-formed  column  of  the  Thebans,, 
like  the  ram  of  a  trireme,  came  sweeping  obliquely  down  on  the 
right  wing  of  the  enemy,  broke  through  the  ranks  of  the  lyace- 
daemonians,  and  put  the  whole  army  to  flight.    In  the  excite- 
ment of  the  pursuit  Epameinondas  fell  mortally  wounded, 
and  with  his  dying  breath  he  advised  the  Thebans  to  make 
peace.    As  at  lyiitzen  and  at  Quebec,  the  joy  of  victory  was 
changed  into  mourning,  and  for  Thebes  the  loss  was  irreparable. 
Her  supremacy  was  doomed,  for  it  had  been  sustained  by  the 
genius  and  the  personality  of  her  great  general,  and  even  he 
had  been  unable  to  combine  Boeotia  into  a  compact  and  per- 
manent state.    All  that  was  great  in  the  Theban  supremacy — 
and  there  were  elements  of  real  greatness  in  it — was  due  to 
Epameinondas.     The  unanimous  verdict  of  ancient  writers, 
including  even  the  Sparta-loving  Xenophon,  affirms  him  to 
have  been  not  only  a  great  military  leader,  but  also  in  personal 
character  one  of  the  noblest  of  the  Greeks — frinceps  Graeciae, 
as  Cicero  calls  him. 

Xenophon  says  that  the  battle  of  Mantineia  (in  a  preliminary 
skirmish  of  which,  by  the  way,  his  son  Gryllus  was  slain)  was 

398 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

expected  to  be  a  very  decisive  engagement,  but  that  it  left 
things  in  a  "  ten  times  more  unsettled  "  state;  and  this  is 
probably  true,  except  that  it  confirmed  the  independence  of 
Messenia  and  Arcadia.  Sparta  had  sunk  low  even  before  the 
battle.  To  what  depths  she  descended  is  apparent  from  the 
fact  that  as  early  as  365  the  white-haired  King  Agesilaus, 
perhaps  partly  actuated  by  his  old  hatred  of  Persia,  but  also, 
it  seems,  moved  by  the  hope  of  high  pay,  had  taken  Spartan 
troops  across  to  Asia  to  fight  as  mercenaries  for  Ariobarzanes 
in  his  revolt  against  the  Great  King  ;  and  now,  after  Mantineia, 
being  eighty-four  years  of  age,  he  took  a  thousand  mercenaries 
to  Egypt  to  aid  in  another  rebelHon  against  Persia.  In  Egypt 
the  old  warrior  was  at  first  treated  scornfully  on  account  of 
his  lameness  and  insignificant  person,  but  his  military  services 
brought  him  a  fee  of  230  talents.  On  his  homeward  journey 
he  died,  at  the  harbour  of  Menelaus  in  the  territory  of  Cyrene. 


SECTION  A :  XENOPHON 

Most  of  the  facts  that  are  known  about  Xenophon's  life 
have  been  mentioned  in  connexion  with  Socrates  and  with  the 
expedition  of  Cyrus.  He  was  born  near  Athens  about  444,  and 
he  seems  to  have  lived  over  ninety  years.  After  his  return 
to  Athens  in  399  (p.  391)  he  was  banished,  probably  on  account 
of  his  relations  with  Cyrus.  He  rejoined  the  remnant  of  the 
Ten  Thousand  in  Asia  Minor,  and,  having  returned  overland 
with  Agesilaus  to  Greece  in  394,  fought  on  the  side  of  Sparta  at 
Coroneia.  The  Spartans  then  gave  him  an  estate  in  Triphyleia, 
near  Olympia,  where  with  his  family  he  passed  twenty  years 
of  quiet  country  Hfe ;  but  when  Sparta,  after  the  '  King's 
Peace,'  began  to  stir  up  strife  and  had  seized  the  Theban 
Cadmeia,  Triphyleia  became  a  bone  of  contention,  and  the 
Eleans  succeeded  in  ejecting  Xenophon.  His  sentence  of 
banishment  was  repealed  when  Athens  made  alliance  with 
Sparta  (374),  but  whether  he  returned  to  his  native  city  or  spent 
the  rest  of  his  Hfe  at  Corinth  is  unknown.  Besides  the  Anabasis 
he  wrote  the   Cyropaedeia,   an  imaginative   account  of  the 

399 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
boyhood  of  Cyrus  the  Great  and  of  the  early  Persian  court 
and  nation,  and  the  Memoirs  of  Socrates,  and  the  Hellenica, 
a  chronicle  of  the  Spartan  and  Theban  supremacies.  He  also 
wrote  a  book  about  hunting,  and  although  a  soldier  and  a 
leader  of  men  he  was  evidently  happier  amid  natural  sur- 
roundings, country  scenes  and  wild  animals,  than  amid  the 
clash  of  arms  and  the  turmoil  of  fratricidal  wars.  His  keen 
observation  and  his  picturesque  descriptions  of  remote  regions 
and  of  wild  men  and  animals  lend  a  charm  to  the  Anabasis 
which  is  entirely  wanting  in  the  Hellenica.  His  piety,  which 
recognized  the  will  of  heaven  in  every  event  and  believed 
implicitly  in  the  efficacy  of  vows  and  sacrifice,  reminds  one  less, 
perhaps,  of  the  childlike  naivete  of  Herodotus  than  of  the  manly. 
God-fearing  character  of  such  a  soldier  as  Gordon.  The  follow- 
ing passages  from  the  Anabasis  are  characteristic  of  his  style  : 

"  Now  there  was  a  certain  Xenophon,  an  Athenian,  accom- 
panying the  army  neither  as  a  general  nor  a  captain  nor  a 
common  soldier,  whom  Proxenus,  an  old  family  friend,  had 
invited  to  come  over  from  Greece,  promising  to  obtain  for  him 
the  friendship  of  Cyrus.  When  Xenophon  had  read  the  letter 
he  informed  Socrates  about  the  expedition ;  and  Socrates, 
fearing  that  friendship  with  Cyrus  might  inculpate  Xenophon 
with  the  Athenians,  seeing  that  Cyrus  zealously  supported 
the  Spartans  against  Athens,  advised  him  to  go  to  Delphi 
and  ask  the  god  about  the  expedition.  So  Xenophon  went 
and  asked  Apollo  to  which  deities  he  should  offer  sacrifice 
and  prayer  so  as  best  to  undertake  the  journey  that  he  con- 
templated and  succeed  and  return  in  safety.  And  Apollo  gave 
answer  and  told  him  to  what  gods  to  sacrifice.  But  Socrates 
blamed  Xenophon  because  he  had  not  first  inquired  whether 
it  were  better  to  go  or  not.  '  However,'  he  said,  '  since  you 
put  the  question  in  this  manner,  you  must  do  all  that  the  god 
commanded.'  "     (iii.  i.) 

"  In  this  region  the  country  was  one  great  plain,  as  level 
as  the  sea,  and  covered  with  wormwood  ;  and  whatever  other 
shrubs  and  reeds  grew  there  were  all  fragrant,  like  aromatic 
400 


114.  'The  Satyr  (Faun)  of  Praxitei.es 


40 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

pot-herbs  ;  and  not  a  tree  was  to  be  seen.  And  there  were  all 
kinds  of  wild  animals,  especially  wild  asses,  and  many  ostriches, 
and  also  bustards  and  gazelles.  When  one  chased  the  wild 
asses  they  would  gallop  off  and  then  halt,  for  they  were  much 
swifter  than  the  horses,  and  as  soon  as  the  horses  approached 
they  would  do  it  again,  and  it  was  impossible  to  catch  them 
except  by  posting  hunters  at  intervals  and  taking  up  the 
chase  with  fresh  horses.  Nobody  got  an  ostrich.  Those  who 
chased  them  on  horseback  soon  gave  it  up,  for  the  bird  drew 
off  at  great  speed,  using  the  feet  for  running  and  lifting  herself 
along  with  the  wings,  as  with  a  sail.  But  the  bustards  [wild 
turkeys]  can  be  caught  if  one  follows  them  up  quickly,  for 
they  fly  only  a  short  distance,  like  partridges,  and  soon  tire  ; 
and  they  are  very  good  eating."    (i.  5.) 

"  Thence  they  marched  three  stages,  five  parasangs  [i.e. 
about  nineteen  miles  in  three  days],  over  a  plain,  through  deep 
snow.  The  third  stage  proved  difiicult,  and  a  biting  north 
wind  opposed  them,  piercing  through  everything  and  freezing 
their  very  blood.  One  of  the  augurs  suggested  sacrificing  to 
the  wind.  This  was  done,  and  every  one  remarked  that  the 
violence  of  the  wind  decreased  perceptibly.  The  snow  was 
six  feet  deep,  so  that  many  of  the  beasts  of  burden  and  of  the 
menials  perished,  and  about  thirty  soldiers.  They  got  through 
the  night  by  lighting  fires,  for  they  found  a  large  store  of  wood 
where  they  encamped  ;  and  wherever  a  fire  was  Ht  the  snow 
melted  and  great  pits  were  formed  right  down  to  the  ground, 
and  one  could  thus  measure  the  depth  of  the  snow.  .  .  .  But 
those  who  had  fallen  behind  on  the  march  had  to  camp  without 
food  or  fire,  and  some  of  them  perished,  and  although  dense 
masses  of  the  enemy  were  pressing  on  the  rear,  frequently 
capturing  broken-down  pack-animals  and  fighting  with  each 
other  over  them,  it  was  nevertheless  necessary  to  leave  behind 
those  of  the  soldiers  who  had  been  blinded  by  the  snow  and 
those  whose  toes  had  been  rotted  off  by  the  cold.  .  .  .  And  they 

fught  sight  of  a  dark  patch,  where  there  was  no  snow,  and 
ought  it  had  melted  ;   and  so  it  had,  on  account  of  a  stream 
lich  was  steaming  in  a  gully  near  by.   And  they  left  the  Hue 
.    ,. 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
of  march  and  sat  down  there  and  refused  to  move.  And 
Xenophon,  who  was  bringing  up  the  rear,  when  he  perceived 
it,  used  every  art  and  means  of  persuasion  to  induce  them  not 
to  give  up,  telHng  them  that  great  masses  of  the  enemy  were 
close  behind  ;  and  at  last  he  grew  angry.  But  they  told  him  to 
kill  them,  for  they  simply  could  not  go  any  further."    (iv.  5.) 

"  Their  homesteads  were  underground,  with  openings  like 
the  mouth  of  a  well,  but  below  they  were  extensive.  For 
beasts  of  burden  there  were  entrances  excavated,  but  the 
people  descended  by  means  of  ladders.  In  the  homesteads 
there  were  goats,  sheep,  cattle,  fowls,  and  their  young.  All 
the  beasts  in  the  place  were  fed  on  hay.  There  was  also  wheat 
and  barley  and  pulse  and  barley- wine  in  bowls  ;  and  the  barley- 
corns themselves  were  there,  level  with  the  brims ;  and  reeds 
without  joints  were  lying  in  the  bowls,  some  of  them  large, 
others  small ;  and  one  was  expected,  whenever  one  was 
thirsty,  to  take  a  reed  and  suck."     (iv.  5.) 

"  When  the  vanguard  had  got  to  the  top  of  the  hill  a  great 
clamour  arose.  And  Xenophon  and  the  rearguard,  when  they 
heard  it,  thought  that  some  other  hostile  bands  were  making 
an  attack.  But  as  the  shouting  became  louder  and  nearer, 
and  each  company  as  it  came  up  started  running  towards 
those  who  continued  to  shout,  and  the  uproar  became  greater 
as  the  crowd  increased,  Xenophon  felt  that  it  must  be  some- 
thing of  importance.  He  therefore  mounted  his  horse,  and 
together  with  lyycius  and  the  cavalry  rode  forward  to  the 
rescue  ;  but  soon  they  hear  that  the  soldiers  are  shouting 
The  sea  I  The  sea  !  and  are  passing  the  word  to  their  comrades. 
Thereupon  all  set  off  running,  even  the  rearguard,  and  the  beasts 
of  burden  were  driven  forward  and  the  horses ;  and  when  all  had 
reached  the  summit  they  began  to  embrace  each  other,  generals 
and  captains  and  everybody,  shedding  tears  of  joy."     (iv.  7.) 

[In  explanation  of  the  following  passage  it  should  he  stated 
that  a  tithe  from  the  ransom  of  certain  prisoners  had  been 
entrusted  to  Xenophon  for  dedication  to  Artemis,  and  that 
402 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

he  had  for  a  time  deposited  this  money  in  the  great  temple 
of  Artemis  at  Ephesus.] 

"  But  when  Xenophoti  was  banished,  and  was  already 
settled  at  Scillus,  near  Olympia,  Megabyzus,  the  warden  of  the 
Ephesian  temple,  came  over  to  attend  the  Olympic  festival, 
and  restored  the  deposit.  So  Xenophon,  having  received 
the  money,  purchased  a  precinct  for  the  goddess  in  a  place 
pointed  out  by  the  god  [Apollo  ?].  A  stream  called  SeHnus 
['  Wild  Celery  River ']  happened  to  flow  through  the  place, 
just  as  a  river  Selinus  flows  past  the  temple  of  Artemis  at 
Ephesus ;  and  in  both  there  are  fish  and  shells ;  but  in  the 
precinct  at  Scillus  there  are  chases  [preserves]  of  all  kinds  of 
game.  And  he  built  an  altar  and  a  shrine  from  the  same 
money,  and  henceforward  he  used  to  devote  to  the  goddess 
the  tithes  of  all  the  produce  of  the  estate  at  a  sacrificial  festival 
in  which  all  the  townspeople  and  neighbours,  both  men  and 
women,  took  part,  camping  in  booths  and  being  supplied  by 
the  goddess  with  meal,  bread,  wine,  dried  fruits,  and  a  share 
of  the  consecrated  portion  of  the  sacrifice,  and  also  a  share 
of  the  game  ;  for  with  a  view  to  the  festival  a  hunt  was  got 
up  by  the  sons  of  Xenophon  and  of  the  other  townspeople, 
and  grown-up  men  joined  in  it,  if  they  wished.  The  quarry 
consisted  of  wild  pig,  gazelles,  and  deer.  Now  the  place  lies 
on  the  road  between  Sparta  and  Olympia,  about  twenty 
stades  [2  J  miles]  from  Olympia.  .  .  .  And  around  the  shrine 
.was  planted  a  grove  of  cultivated  trees,  the  fruits  of  which 
grow  ripe  and  edible.  And  the  shrine  was  a  small  model  of 
the  great  Ephesian  temple,  and  the  wooden  image  [Koavov] 
was  like  the  image  at  Ephesus,  as  far  as  cypress  wood  can 
esemble  gold.''     (v.  3.) 

SECTION  B  :   SICILY  AND  THE  CARTHAGINIANS 

The  struggle  between  the  Hellenic  and  Semitic  races  in 
licily  was  probably  more  important  for  the  future  of  humanity, 
Liid  was  certainly  on  a  larger  scale  and  of  a  more  interesting 
lature,  than  the  intestine  strife  that  for  a  century  exhausted 

403 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
Greece,  and  after  humiliating  lier  before  the  barbarian  left 
her  an  easy  prey  to  Macedonia.  But  the  connexion  between 
Western  and  Eastern  Hellas  after  the  disastrous  Sicilian 
expedition  was  slight.  We  hear  of  triremes  and  troops  sent 
to  the  aid  of  Sparta  by  the  elder  Dionysius ;  Plato  visits 
Syracuse  in  the  vain  hope  of  founding  a  model  state ;  Corinth 
commissions  Timoleon  and  a  thousand  mercenaries  to  eject  from 
Syracuse  the  second  Dionysius ;  Archidamus,  son  of  the  old 
warrior  Agesilaus,  takes  Spartan  troops  across  to  help  Tarentum 
(^'  338) .  against  the  I^ucanians,  and  is  slain  on  Italian  soil ; 
but,  on  the  whole,  the  later  history  of  the  Sicilian  and  ItaUan 
Greeks  has  little  to  do  with  the  history  of  Greece  proper. 
They  formed  no  part  of  the  world-empire  of  Alexander  and  his 
successors,  but  continued  to  struggle  for  existence  against 
Italian  tribes  and  the  Phoenician  power  until  Rome  swallowed 
up  both  them  and  their  foes. 

For  my  present  purpose  a  very  brief  resume  of  Sicilian  history 
during  this  period  will  suffice. 

After  the  crushing  defeat  of  the  Carthaginians  at  Himera 
in  480  they  gradually  re-estabhshed  their  power  in  Western 
Sicily,  and  when,  about  410,  Segesta  appealed  to  Carthage  for 
aid  against  its  rival  Selinus,  the  Carthaginian  shophet  (general) 
Hannibal,  grandson  of  the  Hamilcar  who  perished  at  Himera, 
was  sent  from  Africa  with  100,000  men.  He  sacked  Selinus 
and  then  attacked  Himera,  which,  although  Syracusan  ships 
rescued  some  of  the  inhabitants,  was  captured  and  utterly 
destroyed  ;  and  Hannibal  sacrificed  with  torture  3000  captives 
on  the  spot  where  Hamilcar  was  said  to  have  leapt  into  the 
flames  (p.  276).  In  406  he  blockaded  Acragas.  A  pestilence 
broke  out  among  his  troops  and  he  himself  died.  After  eight 
months  the  besieged  sallied  forth  at  night,  leaving  sick  and 
aged  behind,  and  reached  Gela  in  safety.  Himilco,  Hannibal's 
successor,  massacred  the  abandoned  Acragantines  and  sacked 
the  place.  (But  the  gigantic  temples  survived  the  sack,  and  the 
city  was  afterwards  rebuilt  by  Timoleon,  though  the  great 
Olympieion  was  never  finished.  Finally  it  was  captured 
by  the  Romans  (210),  and,  as  Agrigentum,  was  one  of  the 
404 


115.  The  Apoi^IvO  Sauroctonos  of  Praxitei.es    404 


J 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

chief  cities  of  the  Roman  province  of  Sicily.)  In  405  Gela 
was  taken  by  Himilco,  in  spite  of  the  assistance  of  Syracuse, 
or  possibly  with  the  connivance  of  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse, 
Dionysius. 

This  Dionysius,  a  man  of  obscure  origin,  who  had  risen  to  the 
position  of  sole  military  authority  in  Syracuse  (profiting  by 
political  feuds  between  democrats  led  by  Diodes  and  aristocrats 
led  by  Hermocrates — both  of  whom  had  been  expelled),  had 
persuaded  the  people  to  allow  him  a  bodyguard,  and,  in  the 
same  way  as  Periander  and  Peisistratus,  had  seized  the  chief 
power,  which  he  retained  for  thirty-eight  years.     To  assure 
his  position  he  made  peace  with  the  Carthaginians  and  recog- 
nized their  lordship  over  almost  the  whole  of  Sicily,  but  in 
397,  having  extended    his  sway  over  Catane,  I^eontini,  and 
other  cities,  he  felt  strong  enough  to  renounce  the  compact. 
Thereupon  Himilco  blockaded  Syracuse,  and  Dionysius  was 
reduced  to  such  straits  that  he  tried  to  make  his  escape. 
Pestilence,   however,   once   more   attacked   the   Carthaginian 
troops,  encamped  in  the  marshes  of  the  Anapus,  and  Himilco 
was  glad  to  purchase  safe  retreat  with  a  bribe  of  300  talents, 
leaving  all  his  allies  behind  to  be  massacred  by  the  Syracusans. 
The  empire  of  Dionysius  now  extended  rapidly.     In  393 
he  defeated  Mago,  a  Carthaginian,  who  came  over  with  a  great 
army  from  Africa,  and  by  384  we  find  him  master  not  only  of 
all  Sicily  except  the  western  extremity,  but  also  of  a  great 
part  of    Magna  Graecia  (Italian  Hellas)   and  of  Kpirus,  the 
Greek  mainland  opposite  Corcyra.     He  even  planted  on  the 
distant  shores  and  islands  of  the  Adriatic  various  colonies, 
such  as  Ancona,  Issa,  and  Hadria,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Po. 
Syracuse  was  at  this  time  the  greatest  and  most  powerful 
city  of  all  Hellas.     It  had  500,000  inhabitants  and  was  enclosed 
by  a  line  of  ramparts,  which  encircled  not  only  the  original 
stronghold  on  the  island  Ortygia  and  the  higher  ground  of 
Achradina,  NeapoHs,  and  Tyche,  but  also  the  heights  of  Epipolae 
— a  line  about  eighteen  miles  long,  considerably  longer  than 
the  AureHan  walls  of  Imperial  Rome.     (Massive  ruins  of  the 
fort  E^uryalus,   at  the  western  angle  of  the  ramparts,   still 

405 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

exist,  and  beneath  them  a  labyrinth  of  underground  passages 
and  chambers.) 

Dionysius  cultivated  art  and  literature,  and,  after  many 
failures  that  excited  much  ridicule  at  Athens,  one  of  his 
tragedies  is  said  to  have  won  a  prize ;  but  he  seems  to  have 
been  jealous  of  real  genius,  to  judge  from  his  relations  with 
Plato,  who  in  388  is  said  to  have  visited  his  court,  and  to  have 
soon  left  it  under  a  cloud — indeed,  according  to  one  report, 
he  was  sold  as  a  slave  to  the  Spartans  by  the  despot !  On  the 
other  hand,  stories  are  told  of  the  wisdom  and  generosity 
of  Dionysius,  one  of  which  is  well  known  through  Schiller's 
ballad  Die  Burgschaft. 

When  Dionysius  the  elder  died  in  367  (perhaps  in  consequence 
of  a  great  banquet  held  after  his  tragic  victory  at  Athens)  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Dionysius  II,  a  weak  and  self-opinionated 
young  man.  The  new  lord  of  Syracuse  at  first  was  under  the 
influence  of  a  wise  adviser,  Dion,  the  brother  of  one  of  the  late 
tyrant's  wives.  Dion  invited  Plato  to  return  to  Syracuse, 
suggesting  that  he  might  attempt  to  realize  the  model  state 
the  outline  of  which  he  had  sketched  in  his  Republic.  Plato 
gladly  fell  in  with  the  suggestion,  for  it  was  his  behef  that 
such  a  model  state  was  a  possibility  in  case  "  fortune  should 
bring  a  wise  lawgiver  in  the  way  of  a  young  ruler  who  was 
intelligent,  brave,  and  generous."  Unluckily  the  young  ruler 
in  this  case  proved  a  failure,  or  perhaps  Plato,  like  Milton, 
was  too  exacting  with  the  young.  (In  accordance  with  the 
rule  of  his  academy,-  "I^et  no  one  enter  who  is  ignorant  of 
geometry,"  he  insisted,  it  is  said,  on  putting  his  royal  pupil 
and  the  whole  court  of  Syracuse  through  a  preliminary  course 
of  this  science,  holding  that,  as  Kuclid  remarked  to  King 
Ptolemy,  "  there  is  no  royal  short  cut  to  geometry.") 

Dionysius  soon  afterwards  (360)  succeeded  in  expelling  his 
mentor,  Dion,  and  Plato  was  allowed  to  return,  doubtless 
somewhat  disillusioned,  to  his  Academeia  on  the  Cephisus. 
Once  more,  perhaps  persuaded  by  Dion,  who  was  at  Athens, 
Plato  acceded  to  the  request  of  Dionysius  and  returned  (357) 
to  Syracuse,  whence  he  seems  to  have  escaped  with  his  life 
406 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

only  through  the  influence  of  the  Pythagorean  Archytas. 
About  the  same  time,  while  Dionysius  was  absent  on  an 
expedition  to  Italy,  Dion  returned  and  was  enthusiastically 
received  as  their  ruler  and  lawgiver  by  the  Syracusans. 
However,  their  hopes  were  disappointed.  Dion  developed 
tyrannical  proclivities  and  was  assassinated  in  353,  and  a 
few  years  later  (346)  Dionysius  returned  and  re-established 
himself  in  the  stronghold  of  Ortygia.  In  344,  hearing  that  the 
Carthaginians  were  preparing  a  vast  armament  for  the  invasion 
of  Sicily,  the  Syracusans  appealed  to  their  mother-city,  Corinth, 
and  ten  ships  with  1000  hoplites  were  sent  under  the  command 
of  Timoleon.  This  man  had  once  saved  his  own  brother's 
hfe  in  battle,  but  had  afterwards  killed  him,  or  instigated 
his  murder,  to  save  the  state  from  his  treasonable  plots. 
Abhorred  by  many  as  a  fratricide  and  admired  by  others  as 
a  patriot,  he  had  long  lived  in  obscurity,  but  was  now  given 
the  chance  of  proving  his  real  character.  He  was  welcomed 
as  deliverer  by  many  of  the  Sicilian  cities,  and  ere  long 
Dionysius  capitulated  and  was  allowed  to  retire  to  Corinth, 
where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  fashionable  diversions, 
and,  it  is  said,  in  presiding  over  a  school,  or  literary  academy — 
perhaps  in  imitation  of  his  old  teacher  ! 

Timoleon  succeeded  in  ejecting  the  tyrants  from  many  of  the 
SiciHan  cities  and  uniting  the  Hellenic  power  against  the 
Carthaginians,  who  were  planning  another  great  invasion. 
In  339  they  brought  over  an  army  of  70,000  men  and  10,000 
horses  in  a  fleet  of  more  than  a  thousand  vessels.  Timoleon's 
forces  amounted  to  less  than  10,000 ;  but  on  the  river  Crimisus 
he  gained  a  complete  victory.  Many  thousands  of  the  enemy 
were  slain  or  drowned,  15,000  were  made  prisoners,  and 
immense  spoil  was  captured.  Carthage  was  glad  to  make 
peace  and  to  confine  herself  to  the  western  end  of  the  island. 
Timoleon  now  resigned  his  powers  and  retired  to  an  estate  near 
Syracuse.  He  had  become  totally  bhnd.  Plutarch  tells  us 
how  at  times  he  visited  Syracuse  and  was  drawn  in  a  car  into 
the  middle  of  the  great  theatre  amid  the  deafening  applause 
of  the  immense  multitude,  who  listened  with  reverence  to  his 

407 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

words.  He  died  in  336,  only  two  years  after  his  great  victory 
— ^in  the  year  that  Alexander  the  Great  ascended  the  Macedonian 
throne. 

The  Syracusan  democracy  lasted  till  317,  when  Agathocles, 
a  potter,  made  himself  tyrant.  The  Carthaginians  had  once 
more  overrun  all  Sicily.  They  defeated  Agathocles  at  Himera 
and  blockaded  Syracuse  ;  but  Agathocles  boldly  transported 
an  army  to  Africa  and  for  years  laid  waste  the  Carthaginian 
territory.  Finally  he  established  himself  as  the  king  of 
Sicily.  In  270  Hiero  II  was  elected  king  of  Sicily.  At  first 
he  sided  with  the  Carthaginians  against  the  Romans,  but 
afterwards  became  the  faithful  ally  of  Rome.  His  grandson, 
Hieronymus,  reverted  to  the  Carthaginians,  and  Syracuse  was 
thereupon  (212)  besieged  and  captured  by  Marcellus  and 
became  the  chief  city  of  the  Roman  province  of  Sicily. 

SECTION  C :  PLATO 

Some  of  the  facts  of  Plato's  life  have  been  given  in  connexion 
with  Socrates  and  with  Dionysius. 

It  is  only  necessary  here  to  add  that  he  was  born  at  Athens 
in  428,  and  became  a  follower  of  Socrates  when  about  twenty 
years  of  age.  After  the  death  of  his  master  he  lived  for  a 
time  at  Megara,  and  seems  to  have  visited  Cyrene,  Egypt,  and 
possibly  other  Eastern  lands,  as  well  as  Sicily  and  Magna 
Graecia,  where  he  became  intimate  with  Pythagorean  and 
Eleatic  philosophy.  When  forty  years  of  age  (after  his  first 
visit  to  Dionysius)  he  acquired  a  small  estate  on  the  southern 
slope  of  Colonus,  and  for  the  next  forty-two  years,  except 
during  his  two  later  visits  to  Syracuse,  occupied  himself  by 
writing  his  dialogues  and  by  teaching  in  his  own  house  or  in 
the  gymnasium  and  avenues  of  the  Academeia — a  place  of 
public  resort,  named  after  the  old  hero  Academus,  and  laid 
out  by  Cimon — adjacent  to  his  garden.  All  his  chief  works, 
thirty-six  dialogues,  have  come  down  to  us.  Of  these  the 
Republic  consists  of  ten  and  the  Laws  of  twelve  books. 

In  the  case  of  Socrates  it  is  the  personaHty  of  the  man  and 
408 


1 1 6.   DEMKTER 


408 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

the  fundamental  principles  of  his  teaching  that  are  of  interest ; 
with  Plato  it  is  rather  the  superstructure  of  thought  and 
imagination  that  is  important,  not  only  for  the  consummate 
grace  and  power  of  his  style — which  is  perhaps  the  most  perfect 
in  all  prose  literature,  reminding  one  of  the  movements  of  some 
strong  and  beautiful  animal — nor  only  for  the  poetic  faculty 
by  which  he  bodies  forth  the  forms  of  things  unknown  and 
intimates  to  us  in  parables  what  "  cannot  be  communicated 
directly  by  words  like  other  kinds  of  learning/'  but  also  for  the 
illumination  and  insight  that  his  intellectual  conceptions  bring 
us.  No  more  can  here  be  done  than  to  indicate  the  more 
important  of  these  intellectual  conceptions,  and  give  one  or 
two  specimens  of  his  imaginative  parables. 

Aristotle  tells  us  that  Plato  as  a  young  man  was  much 
impressed  by  the  doctrines  of  Heracleitus,  as  taught  by  the 
Athenian  Cratylus,  concerning  the  ceaseless  movement  (flux) 
and  instability  of  all  things  and  the  impossibility  of  any  certain 
knowledge  founded  on  phenomena.  These  doctrines,  which 
we  find  constantly  in  Plato  (generally  attributed  by  him  to 
Socrates) ,  were  doubtless  confirmed  by  his  study  of  the  Eleatic 
philosophy,  such  as  that  of  Parmenides  ;  but  he,  or  Socrates 
(with  whom  we  may  henceforward  identify  him),  was  too  wise 
to  accept  the  paralysing  Kleatic  denial  of  the  practical  reality 
of  the  natural  world.  While  holding  the  sole  absolute  reality 
of  the  One  he  accepted  the  Many  as  practically  real,  as  '  rafts ' 
useful  for  wafting  us  over  the  sea  of  earthly  life.  And  for 
intellectual  existence  also  he  accepted  such  '  rafts.'  In  the 
Phaedo  he  says  that  he  had  given  up  gazing  directly  at  absolute 
truth,  lest  he  should  be  bhnded  as  those  who  gaze  too  long  at 
the  sun,  and  had  sought  its  reflected  image — i.e.  he  had  given 
up  pure  contemplation,  as  apt  to  paralyse  thought  and  action, 
and  had  taken  to  forming  intellectual  conceptions,  which  he 
accepted  as  temporary  rafts,  to  be  abandoned  at  any  time  if 
they  did  not  prove  seaworthy. 

When  Socrates  gave  up  the  study  of  natural  science,  won- 
dering how  any  one  could  be  so  bhnd  as  "  not  to  be  able  to 
distinguish  between  a  true  cause  and  that  through  which  it 

409 


k. 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
operates/'  he  went  back,  like  Descartes,  to  fundamental 
principles  and  the  simplest  possible  conceptions.  "  I  began 
thus,"  Plato  makes  him  say.  "  I  assumed  what  I  judged  to 
be  the  strongest  principle  " — the  strongest  beam  for  his  raft 
— "  and  then  accepted  as  true  whatever  was  in  agreement 
with  it."  What  one  of  these  strongest  principles  was  he  tells 
us  in  the  Phaedo.  "  Nothing,"  he  says,  "  has  any  reality 
except  so  far  as  it  participates  in  the  real  Existence,  or  Idea, 
of  which  it  is  the  manifestation.  ...  If  any  one  tells  me 
that  a  thing  is  beautiful  because  it  possesses  a  rich  colour,  or 
a  certain  shape,  or  so  on,  I  bid  farewell  to  such  statements, 
for  they  only  confuse  me.  I  keep  to  the  simple,  uncritical, 
and  perhaps  foolish  opinion  that  nothing  else  causes  it  to  be 
beautiful  but  the  presence,  or  operation,  of  ideal  Beauty.  How 
this  takes  place  I  cannot  say,  but  I  do  assert  that  all  beautiful 
things  become  such  through  ideal  Beauty." 

In  another  passage  he  puts  it  thus  :  No  two  material  things 
were  ever  perfectly  equal.  What  then  do  we  mean  by  saying 
that  things  are  equal  ?  We  must  mean  that  they  more  or 
less  approach  that  perfect  Equality  which,  as  it  exists  nowhere 
on  earth,  we  must  have  seen  in  some  other  life,  before  the  sleep 
and  forgetting  of  our  birth ;  and  just  as  we  are  reminded  of  a 
person  by  a  portrait,  so  when  we  see  two  things  nearly  equal 
("  longing  for  Equality  ")  we  are  reminded  of  that  truly  existing 
ideal  Equality  of  which  they  are  the  imperfect  manifestation. 
This  is  the  Platonic  doctrine  of  Reminiscence  [Anamnesis], 
which  connects  itself  with  the  doctrine,  or  parable,  of  a  conscious 
prenatal  existence,  and,  as  we  shall  see  later,  with  that  of 
Transmigration  (Metempsychosis). 

In  order  to  gain  any  satisfactory  view  of  Plato's  doctrine 
of  Ideas,  it  is  necessary,  I  think,  to  regard  it  from  various 
standpoints.  Firstly,  the  parable  of  the  One  and  the  Many 
is  useful.  Secondly,  an  Idea  has  some  analogy  to  what  one 
calls  an  Archetype — and  one  may  conceive,  if  one  can,  such 
Archetype  as  an  independent  objective  existence,  of  which 
all  the  individuals  of  a  genus,  or  species,  are  more  or  less  imper- 
fect copies  ;  or,  from  the  opposite  standpoint,  we  may  consider 
410 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

it  (though  Plato  tried  not  to  do  so)  as  a  mere  generahzation,  or 
abstraction,  existing  only  in  our  own  minds.  Again,  an  Idea 
may  sometimes  be  regarded  as  the  real  Cause,  or  lyif  e,  of  a  thing. 
For  instance,  when  the  scientist  analyses  the  protoplasm  and 
finds  nothing  left  in  his  pot  but  water,  carbonic  acid,  and 
ammonia,  and  exclaims,  "  I^o,  here  in  my  pot  is  the  First 
Cause  !  "  the  intellectual  conception  or  parable  of  an  Idea  of 
life — an  ideal  Reality,  a  true  Cause,  existing  in  all  eternity 
quite  independent  of  *'  that  through  which  it  operates  " — is 
helpful,  just  as  a  raft.  And  there  is  another  way  of  regarding 
the  Platonic  Idea  which  is  sometimes  useful.  In  the  case  of 
both  things  and  persons  there  are  certain  accidental  qualities 
which  seem  to  affect  only  the  senses  and  the  mind  and  to 
make  no  difference  in  our  feelings,  whereas  there  are  other 
elements,  both  in  things  and  in  persons,  which  appeal  straight 
to  our  affections,  and  it  is  these  elements  that  compose  the 
real  person  or  the  real  thing.  So  we  may,  perhaps,  say  that 
the  Idea  is  that  real  inner  Self  of  a  thing  or  of  a  person  which 
appeals  to  our  heart  rather  than  to  our  mind.  Thus  Plato 
speaks  of  that  ecstasy  of  *  divine  madness  '  which  we  experience 
when  we  recognize  in  earthly  forms  the  reflexion  of  that  divine 
Idea  of  beauty  or  of  truth  which  our  soul  has  seen  and  loved  in 
a  former  existence. 

As  in  every  allegory,  there  are  in  this  parable  of  Ideas  various 
points  against  which  our  understanding  stumbles.  Firstly,  it 
is  not  easy  to  understand  how  our  mind  is  related  to  these 
Ideas,  and  how  we  apprehend  them,  or  are  certain  of  their 
existence  as  Realities.  They  seem  to  be  mirrored  darkly  in 
our  mind  as  Reminiscences,  and  to  be  contemplated  by  some 
special  "  reasoning  part  of  the  soul.''  Secondly,  in  regard  to  the 
presence  or  operation  of  the  Idea  in  material  things  Plato 
himself  says,  "  How  this  takes  place  I  cannot  say."  It  is 
the  same  kind  of  question  as  that  of  the  connexion  between 
mind,  or  life,  and  matter.  In  such  cases  one  has  once  more  to 
take  refuge  in  allegory,  and  Plato  does  so  when  he  tells  us  that  the 
material  universe  is  an  '  imitation '  and  that  it '  participates  in ' 
and  *  has  community  with '  the  Perfect  and  Eternal  and  Divine. 

411 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
By  allowing  that  all  things  participate  in  Perfection  he 
endowed  the  natural  world  with  a  certain  reflected  reality  and 
dignity,  such  as  lends  a  value  to  earthly  existence,  but  (as 
Socrates  is  made  to  confess  to  the  old  Parmenides  in  the 
dialogue  of  this  name)  he  was  also  obliged  to  suppose  an 
Archetype,  or  Ideal,  of  everything,  even  of  ugliness,  of  filth,  of 
evil.  To  such  an  "  unfathomable  abyss  of  absurdity  "  was  he 
led  by  his  theory.  And  yet  he  retained  his  theory  as  the  most 
seaworthy  raft  he  could  find,  and  on  this  '  strongest  principle  ' 
he  reared  a  structure  that  has  proved  for  many  a  refuge  against 
the  blasts  of  materialism. 
The  following  are  specimens  of  Plato's  imaginative  allegories : 

"  '  Imagine/  says  Socrates,  '  people  in  a  subterranean  place 
like  a  cavern,  with  an  entrance  expanding  to  the  light  across 
the  whole  width  of  the  cave.  Suppose  them  to  have  been 
in  this  cavern  from  their  childhood  with  chains  on  their  legs 
and  necks,  so  as  only  to  be  able  to  look  towards  the  inner  part 
of  the  cave,  and  unable  to  turn  their  heads  round.  And  suppose 
behind,  between  these  fettered  men  and  the  light,  a  low  stage 
or  parapet,  like  those  on  which  mountebanks  show  their 
curious  tricks.  And  imagine  that  along  this  parapet  pass  men 
bearing  all  kinds  of  things  raised  aloft — human  statues  and 
figures  of  animals  and  all  kinds  of  utensils.' 

"  '  You  mention,'  says  Glauco,  *  a  strange  comparison  and 
strange  fettered  men.' 

"  '  Yes,'  answers  Socrates,  '  but  such  as  resemble  us  human 
beings.  Now  I  suppose  you  will  allow  that  they  can  see  nothing 
but  only  the  shadows  thrown  by  the  light  on  the  further  wall 
of  the  cavern  ?  ' 

"  '  How  can  they,'  says  Glauco,  '  if  all  their  life  they  have 
had  their  heads  thus  fixed  ?  ' 

"  '  Such  people  as  these,  then,  will  believe  that  there  is 
nothing  truly  existing  except  these  shadows  ?  ' 

"  *  Necessarily.' 

"  '  Well,  then,  if  one  of  them  should  be  loosed  and  made 
suddenly  to  rise  up  and  turn  his  head  round  and  look  towards 
412 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

the  light,  and  in  doing  this  should  be  so  pained  and  blinded 
by  the  splendour  as  to  be  unable  to  behold  the  things  of  which 
he  had  formerly  seen  the  shadows,  do  you  not  think  he  would 
turn  away  from  the  light  and  seek  again  the  shadows  and  believe 
that  they  alone  are  real  ?  ' 

''  '  He  certainly  would  do  so/ 

"  '  Well,  but  if  some  one  should  drag  him  thence  by  force 
up  the  steep  and  rough  ascent  and  never  stop  till  he  had  drawn 
him  right  up  to  the  sunlight,  would  he  not  be  distressed  and  full 
of  indignation  ?  And  when  he  had  come  up  into  the  light  and 
his  eyes  were  filled  with  its  splendour,  would  he  be  able  to  see 
any  of  the  things  that  are  there  called  real  ?  Would  he  not 
require  time  so  as  to  become  accustomed  to  it  ?  And  first  he 
would  perceive  shadows  best,  and  then  the  images  of  things 
reflected  in  water,  and  after  that  the  things  themselves.  .  .  . 
Ivast  of  all,  he  would  be  able,  I  think,  to  perceive  and  contem- 
plate the  sun  itself/ 

"  '  Assuredly,'  answers  Glauco. 

"  '  Well,  then,  when  he  remembers  his  first  habitation  and 
the  wisdom  that  was  there,  and  those  who  were  his  companions 
in  bonds,  do  you  not  think  he  will  esteem  himself  happy  by 
the  change,  and  pity  them  ? 

"  '  He  will,  greatly/ 

"  '  And  if  there  were  any  honours  and  renown  and  rewards 
among  those  fettered  men  for  him  who  most  acutely  perceived 
the  shadows  that  passed  along  the  wall,  and  who  best  remem- 
bered which  were  wont  to  pass  foremost  and  which  last,  and 
which  of  them  went  together,  and  from  this  knowledge  were 
even  able  to  foretell  what  was  coming,  does  it  appear  to  you 
that  he  would  be  desirous  of  such  honours,  or  envy  those  who 
are  thus  honoured  and  rewarded  ?  Or  would  he  not  wish,  as 
Homer  says.  To  work  as  the  hireling  of  some  portionless  man, 
or  to  suffer  anything,  rather  than  to  hold  such  opinions  and 
five  in  such  a  fashion  ?  ' 

"  '  I  think,'  says  Glauco,  '  that  he  would  rather  suffer  and 
endure  anything/ 

"  '  Now  consider  this.    If  such  an  one  should  descend  once 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
more  into  the  cave  and  resume  his  seat,  would  not  his  eyes 
be  filled  with  darkness  in  consequence  of  coming  back  suddenly 
from  the  sunlight  ?  And  should  he  now  be  obliged  to  give  his 
opinion  about  those  shadows,  and  dispute  about  them  with 
those  men  who  are  there,  eternally  chained,  whilst  still  his 
eyes  are  dazed  and  before  they  have  recovered  their  former 
state,  would  he  not  afford  his  companions  laughter  ?  And  would 
it  not  be  said  of  him  that,  having  ascended,  he  had  returned 
with  his  eyes  damaged,  and  that  it  is  wrong  to  attempt  to  go 
up  to  the  light,  and  that  should  any  one  ever  try  to  liberate 
them  and  lead  them  up  to  the  light,  if  ever  they  should  lay  hands 
upon  him,  he  should  be  put  to  death  ?  ' 

"  '  They  would  most  certainly,'  says  Glauco,  '  put  him  to 
death.'  "     {Rep.  vii.) 

"  lyct  us  compare  the  soul  to  the  combined  energies  of  a 
winged  chariot  and  a  charioteer.  The  horses  and  charioteers 
of  the  gods  are  all  noble  and  of  noble  descent,  but  those  of 
other  natures  are  very  various.  With  us  men  the  charioteer 
does  indeed  direct  the  chariot,  but  of  the  horses  one  is  well 
proportioned  and  well  bred  and  the  other  is  quite  the  reverse  ; 
whence  it  results  that  the  work  of  guiding  the  chariot  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult. ' '  [These  winged  chariots  are  described  as  soaring 
up  to  the  apse  of  heaven  preceded  by  the  host  of  the  divine 
charioteers.]  "  The  sovereign  ruler  Zeus  leads  the  van,  guiding 
his  winged  chariot  and  disposing  and  controlling  all.  After  him 
comes  the  host  of  the  gods  and  divine  powers  in  eleven  com- 
panies, Vesta  (the  Central  Fire)  alone  remaining  in  the  palace 
of  the  immortals.  And  as  they  ascend  to  the  zenith  of  heaven's 
vault  the  chariots  of  the  deities,  always  in  perfect  balance, 
advance  with  lightness  and  ease,  while  the  others  toil  on  with 
difficulty,  for  the  evil  courser  drags  down  earthwards  the  car, 
unless  he  has  been  right  well  trained  by  his  driver.  Here  comes 
the  great  and  sore  trial  of  the  soul.  The  souls  of  the  immortals, 
when  they  have  reached  the  zenith,  place  themselves  on  the 
outer  surface  of  the  heavenly  vault,  and  the  revolution  carries 
them  round  and  they  behold  that  region  above  the  sky  of  which 
414 


1 1 7.   EiRENE   AND   Pl^UTUS 
By  Cephisodotus 


414 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

no  earthly  poet  has  ever  sung  nor  ever  shall  sing  worthily 
where  true  Existence  (Reality)  dwells,  colourless,  formless, 
impalpable,  not  to  be  contemplated  except  by  the  mind  that 
guides  the  soul.  .  .  .  Such  is  the  life  of  the  gods.  Among  the 
others  that  soul  which  best  follows  and  resembles  the  divine 
lifts  the  head  of  the  charioteer  into  the  upper  region  and  is 
carried  round  by  the  revolution,  but  it  is  much  troubled  by 
its  horses  and  with  difficulty  contemplates  true  Existences. 
Another  is  now  lifted,  now  depressed.  The  plunging  of  its 
horses  allows  it  to  see  some  Existences  and  not  others.  The 
rest  follow  afar,  eager  to  contemplate  the  higher  region,  but 
are  powerless  to  do  so  and  are  carried  round  beneath  the  surface. 
They  clash  together  and  fall  one  over  the  other,  each  attempting 
to  get  to  the  front ;  they  crowd,  they  battle,  they  toil,  and  by 
the  awkwardness  of  their  charioteers  many  are  lamed  and 
many  lose  the  best  part  of  the  plumage  of  their  wings,  and 
after  painful  and  unavailing  efforts  are  foiled  in  gaining  a 
view  of  Reality  and  are  obliged  to  find  their  aliment  in  the 
fodder  of  opinion.  Such  a  soul,  becoming  fattened  on  the 
gross  food  of  vice  and  f orgetfulness,  gravitates,  loses  its  wings, 
and  falls  to  earth,  and  takes  to  itself  a  body  ;  but  the  law  pro- 
tects it  from  animating  the  body  of  a  beast  in  its  first  stage." 

The  philosopher  then  describes  the  destinies  of  the  undying 
soul  passing  through  various  forms  of  death — sinking  perhaps 
even  below  the  level  of  the  beasts,  until  it  is  cast  as  incurable  into 
Tartarus,  or  rising  in  the  course  of  ten  earthly  lives  and  through 
ten  millenniums  of  purgatory  until  it  regains  its  wings  and 
finally  reaches  heaven,  where  it  "  dwells  for  ever  with  the  gods." 

In  one  case  only  this  period  is  abridged — in  that  of  the  lover 
of  Wisdom,  whose  soul  recovers  its  wings  after  the  third  mil- 
lennium. During  his  earthly  existence  he  prizes  above  all  else 
the  reminiscence  of  those  Realities  which  in  a  former  life  he 
has  beheld.  "  The  man  who  turns  these  precious  recollections 
to  good  account,"  says  Plato,  "  shares  perpetually  in  the  true 
and  perfect  Mysteries  and  himself  becomes  perfect.  For 
withdrawn  from  earthly  interests  and  attached  to  things  divine, 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
he  is  warned  by  the  multitude  to  give  up  his  folly.     They 
treat  him  as  an  idiot.     They  see  not  that  he  is  inspired." 
(Phaedrus,  246.) 


SECTION    D:     SCULPTURE,  ARCHITECTURE,   AND 
PAINTING  TILL  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ALEXANDER 

There  is  a  striking  difference  between  the  sculpture  of  the 
fourth  century  and  that  of  the  fifth.  In  the  fifth  almost  all 
works  of  sculpture  were  pubHc  dedications.  Even  the  statues  of 
victorious  athletes  and  charioteers,  erected  by  cities  or  tyrants 
or  other  wealthy  persons,  were  for  the  most  part  national 
monuments  and  seem  to  have  been  generally  rather  of  a  typical 
character  than  personal — as  is  seen  also  in  the  case  of  sculptured 
tombstones  and  in  such  idealized  portrait  busts  as  that  of 
Pericles  (Fig.  96).  The  gods,  too,  were  represented  as  majestic 
and  somewhat  impersonal  beings  beyond  the  range  of  mortal 
affections.  In  the  fourth  century  sculpture  became  (as  in 
Homer  poetry  long  before  had  been  and  as  in  the  plays  of 
Euripides  even  the  drama  had  now  become)  more  individual, 
personal,  and  emotional,  and  the  artist  began  to  inspire  his 
statues  of  the  divinities  with  human  feelings,  and  to  lend  them 
the  subtle  distinctions  of  personal  character,  without,  how- 
ever, disturbing  (as  was  done  later  by  the  more  emotional 
Hellenistic  and  Graeco- Roman  sculpture)  the  perfect  balance 
of  dignified  self-restraint  that  is  essential  in  all  great  plastic 
art.  The  great  sculptors  of  this  period  are  Praxiteles  and 
Scopas  (c.  390-340).  In  connexion  with  Praxiteles  should 
be  mentioned  his  father  (or  maybe  his  elder  brother),  Cephiso- 
dotus,  a  copy  of  one  of  whose  statues  is  at  Munich.  This  work 
(Fig.  117)  represents  Eirene  (Peace)  as  a  benignant  matron 
holding  on  her  left  arm  the  infant  Plutus  (Wealth).  It  very 
forcibly  illustrates  the  new  tendency,  its  touch  of  nature  and 
human  affection  reminding  one  of  the  Madonna  and  Child  of 
mediaeval  art.  Also  it  is  interesting  because  the  attitude  and 
motive  are  almost  identical  with  those  of  the  one  work  that  we 
possess  by  the  hand  of  the  son,  or  brother,  of  Cephisodotus — 
416 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

the  famous  Praxitelean  Hermes  with  the  infant  Dionysus.  This 
Hermes  (Fig.  112)  was  found  by  German  excavators,  about  the 
year  1877,  in  the  Heraion  at  Olympia  (Fig.  47  and  Note  A). 
It  is  doubtless  the  very  same  statue  that  Pausanias  saw  there 
and  described  as  "  a  Hermes  of  marble,  carrying  the  infant 
Dionysus,  a  work  of  Praxiteles.''     It  is  the  only  extant  ancient 
Greek  statue  that  we  know  for  certain  to  be  the  actual  work 
of  one  of  the  great  Greek  sculptors— though  perhaps  we  may 
not  be  wrong  in  beheving  parts  of  the  Parthenon  frieze  and 
pediments  to  be  the  work  of  Pheidias,  or  in  attributing  the 
Charioteer  to  Calamis,  or  the  Aeginetan  marbles  to  Onatas. 
The  Hermes  has  eHcited  much  enthusiastic  admiration  from 
experts  on  account  of  its  wondrous  technical  perfection,  but 
to  many  it  does  not  appeal  strongly.     There  is  a  well-groo'med, 
somewhat  dandified  air  about  the  god,  and  the  child,  "  whose 
proportions  are  those  of  a  much  older  boy,"  seems  far  less 
attractive  than  the  infant  Plutus  of  Cephisodotus— indeed, 
more  of  a  homunculus  than  a  real  child. 

The  masterpieces  of  Praxiteles,  according  to  old  writers, 
were  the  Aphrodite  of  Cnidus,  the  Bros  of  Thespiae,  the  Satyr, 
and  the  Apollo  Sauroctonos  ('  the  I^izard-killer ').     It  is  said 
that  the  famous  professional  beauty  Phryne,  to  whom  Praxi- 
teles had  promised  a  statue,  wished  to  discover  which  he 
considered  the  best,  and  told  him  that  his  house  was  on  fire, 
ivhereupon  he  exclaimed  that  he  was  ruined  if  his  Satvr  and 
lis  Kros  were  burnt.     The  Cnidian  Aphrodite,  regarded  by 
nany  old  writers  as  the  most  beautiful  of  all  statues,  was,  it 
s  said,  offered  to  the  Coans,  who,  however,  preferred  a  draped 
joddess.i    The  people  of  Cnidus  thereupon  bought  it,   and 
luring  many  years  it  attracted  multitudes  of  visitors  to  their 
own.     The  Bithynian  king  Nicomedes  offered  to  pay  off  the 
mblic  debt  of  Cnidus  in  exchange  for  it,  but  in  vain.     From 
'nidian  coins,  on  which  it  is  represented,  copies  of  the  statue 
.ave  been  recognized.     The  best  of  these  is  in  the  Vatican 
Fig.  118  is  from  a  cast  taken  before  the  statue  was  clothed, 

1  And  jetCoae  vestes  had  a  bad  repute  as  almost  invisible  garments  affected 
J  lashionable  women  in  Rome  ! 

2D  417 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
by  papal  orders,  in  a  tin  skirt.  See  also  Fig.  iii).  THe  face  of 
the  Vatican  statue  is  very  much  more  beautiful  than  that 
which  we  find  on  Cnidian  coins,  and  may  give  us  some  idea 
of  the  original,  which  the  Greek  writer  I^ucian  praises  so  highly 
for  its  loveliness.  The  goddess  shows  strong  human  feeHng,  a 
natural  shrinking,  as  it  were,  from  even  her  own  unveiled 
presence,  but  it  is  combined  with  perfect  self-command,  dignity, 
and  repose,  whereas  in  the  Graeco-Roman  Venus  dei  Medici 
(which  copies  the  motive)  we  see  affectation  and  assumed 
embarrassment  before  human  spectators. 

Of  the  Bros  no  copy  is  known.  The  god  was,  to  judge 
from  coins,  probably  represented  as  a  full-grown  youth  and 
with  long  wings — more  like  the  strong,  manly  Bros  of  antiquity 
than  the  chubby  Cupid  of  later  times.  The  so-called  Cupid 
of  the  Vatican  may  be  a  reminiscence  of  it.  The  little  Boeotian 
town  of  Thespiae,  Phryne's  birthplace,  to  which  she  gave  the 
statue,  became  as  celebrated  by  this  means  as  Cnidus. 

The  Satyr,  of  which  the  '  Faun  of  the  Capitol '  is  perhaps 
the  best  extant  copy,  needs  no  description  (see  Fig.  114).  It 
is  well  known  from  Hawthorne's  Transformation.  A  fine 
torso  in  the  I^ouvre  is  thought  by  some  to  have  belonged  to 
the  original  statue. 

Of  the  Apollo  Sauroctonos  (perhaps  a  bronze)  marble  copies 
exist,  of  which  the  best,  though  evidently  a  late  and  rather 
weak  and  emasculated  imitation,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Tribuna 
at  Florence  (Fig.  115). 

Praxiteles  was  the  inheritor  of  the  early  Attic  manner,  in  I 
which  beauty  of  form  was  pre-eminent,  rather  than  a  follower 
of  Pheidias,  whose  style  combined  all  the  best  quahties  of  Atticj 
grace  with  the  mascuHne  vigour  of  the  Argive  school.     He  isfi 
credited   with  many  great  works  of  which  no  known  relic  is 
extant  except  small  and  vague  reproductions  on  coins.    Possibly 
many  of  the  well-known  but  unauthenticated  statues  in  our| 
galleries  may  be  derived  from  some  Praxitelean  type — ^though 
the  general  motive   may  be    sometimes  more  ancient.     The: 
genius  of  Praxiteles  probably  created  many  types  of  gracq 
and  beauty  which  deeply  influenced  Hellenistic  and  Graeco-^^ 
418 


1 1 8.  The  Cnidian  Aphrodite  of  Praxitei«es 


418 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

Roman  art,  but  they  were  too  often  spoilt  by  the  false 
sentiment  and  prettiness  of  the  later  sculptors. 

Scopas  of  Paros  excelled  in  dramatic  expression  of  strong 
emotion,  which  in  his  open-eyed  and  strenuous  faces  and  figures 
offered  a  striking  contrast  to  the  calm  restraint  and  dreamy 
beauty  of  Praxiteles,  and  was  a  quality  more  Peloponnesian 
than  Attic.  Although  he  is  sometimes  described  as  the  Greek 
Michelangelo,  we  have  no  certain  proofs  of  this  greatness. 
Two  heads  with  traces  of  intense  passion  on  their  mutilated 
faces  have  been  excavated  at  Tegea,  the  temple  at  which 
place  he  is  said  to  have  rebuilt,  and  also  a  decidedly  fine  figure 
and  head  that  may  perhaps  belong  to  each  other  and  represent 
Atalanta.  These  are  sometimes  attributed  to  him,  as  also  the 
head  ^  of  a  Demeter  statue  in  the  British  Museum  (Fig.  ii6), 
which  was  discovered  at  Cnidus.  The  Roman  writer  Pliny 
tells  us  that  Scopas  sculptured  one  of  the  columns  of  the  new 
temple  of  Artemis  at  Ephesus  (begun  about  355  ;  see  Note  A) . 
Fragments  of  the  drums  of  several  of  these  columns  are  in  the 
British  Museum.  One  is  fairly  complete  and  of  great  beauty 
(Fig.  119).  It  probably  represents  the  scene  between  Alcestis, 
Death,  and  Hermes  the  Guider  of  Souls.  It  is  totally  unlike 
what  we  should  expect  from  Scopas.  Its  delicate  beauty  of 
form  and  sentiment  is  decidedly  Attic — and  far  more  like  the 
work  of  Praxiteles  than  anything  we  know  of  Scopas.  It  is, 
however,  probably  by  neither  of  these  sculptors,  for  many 
artists  were  employed. 

The  influence  of  the  passion-fraught  style  of  Scopas  on  later 
art  was  evidently  very  strong,  and  as  Praxitelean  beauty 
degenerated  into  effeminacy  and  coquetry,  so  the  dramatic 
vigour  of  Scopas  led  to  such  inartistic  strenuosities  as  the 
Pergamon  Altar,  the  Farnese  Bull,  and  (pace  I^essing  !)  the 
I^aocodn.  Probably  numerous  sculptures  exist  which  are 
more  or  less  close  imitations  of  his  works,  such  as  of  his  cele- 
brated raving  Bacchante.     The  Apollo  Citharoedus  at  Rome 

1  The  head  is  of  Parian  marble  and  of  far  finer  work  than  the  body,  which, 
although  grandly  designed,  is  of  inferior  execution  and  of  inferior  Cnidian 
marble. 

419 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
(a  statue  of  the  god  singing  to  his  harp)  and  the  Venus  Victrix 
of  the  lyouvre  may  possibly  be  copies  of  his  works.     Of  the 
Niobe  group  I  shall  speak  later. 

A  subject  of  great  interest  in  connexion  with  Scopas  is  that 
of  the  Mausoleum  of  HaHcarnassus,  the  magnificent  monument 

erected  by  Artemisia  (352- 
350)  to  her  husband  Mauso- 
lus,  lord  (dynast)  of  Caria. 
It  was  an  oblong  building 
with  thirty-six  Ionic  columns 
(Fig.  no)  on  a  high  base- 
ment decorated  with  reliefs. 
Above  the  columns  was  prob- 
ably a  frieze,  and  this  was 
surmounted  by  a  roof  in 
the  form  of  a  pyramid  with 
twenty-four  steps,  on  the 
top  of  which  was  a  chariot. 
Pliny,  who  thus  describes  it, 
tells  us  that  Scopas  and  four  other  famous  Greek  artists 
were  employed  on  the  sculptures.  The  Mausoleum  stood 
till  perhaps  the  tenth  century  of  our  era,  and  it  was 
almost  entirely  demolished  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  who 
used  the  material  for  building  the  castle  of  Budrum,  and 
burnt  most  of  the  marble  sculptures  for  hme.  All  that 
remained  was  excavated  and  brought  to  England  about  1857, 
and  is  in  the  Mausoleum  Room  of  the  British  Museum.  Some 
of  the  fragments  of  the  frieze  reliefs  (Greeks  and  Amazons  and 
Centaurs)  show  a  dramatic  vigour  such  as  one  might  expect 
in  a  work  of  Scopas,  and  in  the  reHef  depicting  a  chariot- race 
there  is  a  fine  figure  of  a  charioteer  leaning  forward  on  his 
long  chiton  (Hke  the  Delphi  charioteer)  which  may  well  be  by 
him.  But  by  far  the  most  interesting  relic  of  the  Mausoleum 
is  the  very  striking  and  noble  statue  of  Mausolus  (Fig.  120), 
which  probably  stood  inside  the  building,  not  on  the  roof 
beside  the  chariot,  as  is  intimated  by  its  position  in  the  Museum, 
for,  although  found  near  the  remains  of  the  chariot,  the  statue, 
420 


The  Mausoi^eum 
Reconstruction  by  Adler 


iig.  Drum  of  Coi^umn 

From  the  later  temple  of  Artemis,  Ephesus 


420 


SPARTA    AND    THEBES 

as  also  that  of  Artemisia,  seems  too  small  in  proportion  to 
the  chariot,  and  too  well  preserved  to  have  stood  in  the  open 
and  to  have  sustained  a  fall  from  such  a  height.  The  statue 
is  evidently  a  realistic  portrait  of  the  Carian  prince,  the  features 
being  decidedly  non-Hellenic. 

A  word  should  be  said  here  on  the  subject  of  painting,  ^ 
which  since  the  time  of  Mandrocles  (p.  190)  and  of  Polygnotus 
(p.  243)  had  attained  great  development.  As,  however,  the 
works  of  the  great  Greek  painters  have  entirely  perished,  the 
subject  has  little  value  except  for  the  antiquarian.  It  will 
suffice  to  mention  a  few  names.  Apollodorus  the  Athenian 
is  said  to  have  first  given  attention  to  the  effects  of  light  and 
shade  (chiaroscuro),  or  rather  what  Plutarch  calls  apochrosis — 
i.e.  tone,  or  the  gradations  not  only  of  light  into  shade  but  of 
colour  under  the  influence  of  light  and  shade.  By  such  means, 
as  Pliny  says,  he  first  painted  men  and  natural  objects  realisti- 
cally and  so  as  to  '  attract  observation.'  Zeuxis  of  Heraclea, 
who  was  patronized  by  King  Archelaus  and  may  have  met 
Euripides  and  Thucydides  at  the  Macedonian  court,  was  a 
great  master  of  colour,  and  especially  excelled  in  depicting 
female  beauty  of  the  heroic  type.  The  Helen  that  he  painted 
for  the  people  of  Croton,  using  as  models  five  of  the  most 
beautiful  Crotoniat  maidens,  was  one  of  his  most  famous 
pictures.  (See  Note  A,  '  Temple  of  Hera  lyacinia,'  and 
Fig.  40.) 

Parrhasius  of  Bphesus,  who  lived  mostly  at  Athens  (c.  400), 
was  somewhat  younger  than  Zeuxis  and  rivalled  him  in  splen- 
dour of  colouring  and  grandeur  of  form.  He  called  himself  the 
'  prince  of  painters,'  and  according  to  Pliny  was  the  most 
insolent  and  arrogant  of  artists,  not  even  excepting  Zeuxis. 

Many  other  painters  are  named,  and  many  of  their  pictures 
are  described  by  old  writers  and  many  anecdotes  are  related 
about  them,  but  the  complete  loss  of  all  such  works  makes  the 
subject  almost  valueless  in  comparison  with  that  of  Greek 
sculpture. 

1  For  vase-painting  see  Note  D. 


421 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  RISE  OF  MACEDONIA  :  PHILIP 
AND  ALEXANDER 

(fo  334) 

SECTIONS:  ISOCRATES,  AESCHINBS,   DBMOSTHBNBS,  I,ATBR 
PHILOSOPHERS  :  LYSIPPUS,   HBLLBNISTIC  SCULPTURE 

WE  have  seen  how  after  Mantineia  the  Theban  supre- 
macy rapidly  declined,  and  how  Athens  once  more 
began  to  build  up  an  oversea  empire.  In  this  she 
might  have  been  successful  had  it  not  been  for  the  rise  of  two 
semi-Hellenic  powers,  Caria  and  Macedonia.  Whether  she  would 
have  held  her  own  against  the  maritime  expansion  of  Caria, 
which  under  Mausolus  seems  to  have  been  very  remarkable, 
it  is  idle  to  speculate,  for  both  she  and  her  rival  were  swallowed 
up  by  Macedonia,  and  it  is  a  question  of  more  practical  import 
whether  an  united  Greece  (if  such  a  thing  is  conceivable)  might 
not  have  succeeded  in  resisting  the  Macedonian  conqueror, 
against  whom  the  miserable  feuds  that  for  seventy  years  had 
drained,  and  were  still  draining,  her  life-blood  now  left  her 
powerless.  1 

When  Thebes  was  at  the  height  of  her  power  Pelopidas  had 
brought  even  Macedonia  under  Theban  influence,  if  not  under 
Theban  dominion,  and  to  assure  the  fideHty  of  the  Macedonian 
ruler  (at  that  time  a  usurper,  Ptolemy  Alorites)  he  had  sent 
as  a  hostage  to  Thebes  the  young  Macedonian  prince,  Philip, 
afterwards  the  victor  at  Chaeroneia  and  the  father  of  Alexander 
the  Great. 

Until  this  time  neither  Macedonia  nor  Thessaly  had  really 

^  Of  course  another  view  can  be  taken.    One  may  regard  Macedonia  as  a 
Hellenic  state  and  Philip  and  Alexander  as  the  beneficent  founders  of  a  vast 
Hellenic  Empire  in  which  the  petty  squabbles  of  the  Greek  cities  found  peace 
as  brawling  streams  when  they  reach  the  sea,  to  use  a  Dantesque  simile. 
422 


I20.    MAUSOI^US 


422 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

come  within  the  range  of  Hellenic  poHtics.  We  hear  indeed  of 
Thessalian  cavalry  under  their  king,  Cineas,  coming  to  help 
Hippias  {c.  510)  and  defeating  the  Spartans,  and  of  constant 
wars  between  Thessalians  and  Phocians  (Hdt.  vii.  176),  and  of 
the  Thessalian  Aleuadae,  who  sided  with  the  Persians  and 
fought  for  them  at  Plataea;  and  later  we  hear  of  a  Spartan 
attempt  to  subjugate  Thessaly  (476)  and  the  wild  attempt  of 
Jason  of  Pherae,  after  the  battle  of  I^euctra  (371),  to  seize  the 
hegemony  and  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Hellenic  world 
(as  did  afterwards  Alexander)  ;  but  Thessaly  was  not  regarded 
by  the  southern  Greeks  as  a  part  of  Hellas,  and  Macedonia, 
though  its  kings  claimed  to  be  of  Hellenic  blood,  was  looked 
upon  as  scarcely  less  a  barbarian  country  than  Scythia  itself. 

The  race  that  in  the  early  age  of  Greece  inhabited  Macedonia 
was  probably  related  to  the  Thracians  and  the  Phrygians.  It 
was  of  Aryan  stock  (as  the  remains  of  the  language  prove),  but 
not  Hellenic — that  is,  neither  Achaean  nor  Doric.  I^ater  the 
coast  region  and  the  more  fertile  inland  plains  were  overrun 
by  Hellenes  from  the  south,  who  drove  the  natives  to  the  hills. 
These  Greeks,  or  semi-Greeks,  of  the  lowlands  regarded  them- 
selves as  '  companions  '  of  the  king.  They  composed  the  royal 
bodyguard  and,  like  the  Norman  nobility,  formed  a  distinct 
class.  It  was  long  before  the  wild  Macedonian  hill  tribes,  as 
well  as  the  Paeonians,  Thracians,  and  lUyrians,  were  sufficiently 
subjugated  and  civilized  to  coalesce  with  their  conquerors  and 
to  form  a  powerful  nation. 

The  Macedonian  kings,  as  has  been  said,  claimed  to  be  of 
Hellenic  descent — a  fact  that  Demosthenes  fiercely  denied, 
calling  Philip  Ha"  pestilential  Macedonian  [oXiOpog  Ma/ceSwv 
— a  Macedonian  pestilence]  and  in  no  way  related  to  the 
Greeks.''  But  it  was  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  judges 
when  Alexander  I,  who  had  entered  for  the  foot-race  at 
Olympia,  was  challenged  as  a  non-Hellene.  "  He  proved 
himself  to  be  an  Argive,"  says  Herodotus,  who  in  another 
passage  (viii.  137)  gives  us  a  very  picturesque  story  about 
three  Argive  brothers,  descendants  of  Temenus  (and  therefore 
of  Heracles),  who  fled  {c.  700  ?)  to  Illyria  and  thence  crossed 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
to  Macedonia  "  and  took  up  their  abode  near  a  place  called 
the  Gardens  of  Midas,  where  there  are  roses  of  incomparable 
sweetness,  many  with  sixty  petals.  And  above  the  gardens 
rises  a  mountain  called  Bermius,^  which  is  so  cold  that  none 
can  reach  the  top.  .  .  .  And  from  this  place  by  degrees  they 
conquered  all  Macedonia." 

Such  is  the  legend  that  intimates  the  reflux  of  Hellenes  from 
the  south.  The  youngest  and  cleverest  of  the  brothers,  Per- 
diccas,  founded  the  dynasty  of  the  Macedonian  kings.  The 
fifth  of  these,  Amyntas  I,  was  contemporary  with  Peisistratus 
and  submitted  to  Megabazus,  the  general  of  Darius  (p.  191). 
His  son  and  successor,  Alexander  I,  about  whose  assassination 
of  some  Persian  envoys  Herodotus  tells  a  weird  story  (v.  22), 
was  obliged  to  side  with  the  barbarians  during  the  Persian 
invasion,  and  was  sent  by  them  as  ambassador  to  Athens  ; 
but  he  is  said  to  have  been  secretly  in  favour  of  the  Greeks 
and  to  have  clandestinely  imparted  to  them  at  Plataea  the 
plans  of  the  Persians.  He  competed  at  the  Olympian  Games 
as  above  stated,  and  set  up  a  golden  statue  at  Delphi  (Hdt. 
viii.  121).  Perdiccas  II  lived  during  the  Peloponnesian  War 
and  changed  sides  more  than  once.  Then  came  Archelaus, 
who  was  a  great  admirer  of  Greek  civilization  and  art,  and 
entertained  at  his  court  many  Greek  notabilities,  such  as 
Euripides,  Thucydides,  Agathon,  and  Zeuxis.  The  relationships 
of  the  succeeding  Macedonian  monarchs  will  be  best  explained 
as  follows  : 

Amyntas  II  (393-369) 


1                        1 

Al^EXANDER   II    (369-367)                   PERDICCAS   III 

1 

Pfttjp  II 

Murdered  by  usurper  Ptolemy                (364-359) 

(359-336) 

Alorites,  who  is  killed  by  Perdiccas                    | 

Amyntas 

(Put  aside  by  Philip  and 

Al^EXANDER  III 

afterwards  executed  by 

(Great) 

Alexander) 

(336-323) 

1  Now  Verria,  the  range  running  north  of  Olympus  and  separated  from  it 
by  the  valley  of  the  Haliacmon.  Under  the  range  lay  Aegae  (Kdessa),  the  old 
capital  and  burying-place  of  the  Macedonian  kings.  Archelaus  made  Pella 
the  capital. 

424 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

When  Perdiccas  III  fell  fighting  against  the  Illyrians  his 
brother  Philip  was  probably  acting  as  his  gerent.  After 
crushing  the  Illyrians,  PhiHp,  probably  by  the  invitation  of  the 
nobles,  put  aside  his  young  nephew  Amyntas  (to  whom  he  after- 
wards married  one  of  his  daughters)  and  assumed  the  crown. 

Philip's  education  in  Thebes  had  given  him  a  deep  insight 
into  Creek  character  and  Greek  politics.  He  possessed  great 
intellectual  gifts  and  a  genius  for  diplomacy.  Under  a  frank 
and  attractive  personality  he  concealed  a  subtle  cunning  and 
an  ambition  that  was  as  unscrupulous  as  it  was  boundless. 
Conscious  that  the  last  appeal  was  to  force,  he  gave  the  greatest 
attention  to  the  formation  and  training  of  a  powerful  standing 
army,  the  efficiency  of  which  was  much  increased  by  the  use 
of  newly  invented  engines  of  war  (catapults,  &c.),  and  also  by 
the  introduction  of  a  new  formation — that  of  the  famous 
Macedonian  phalanx,  the  idea  of  which  Phihp  probably  took 
from  the  deep  wedge-like  column  invented  by  Bpameinondas 
and  used  with  such  effect  at  I^euctra.  The  single  phalanx  (at 
least  later)  consisted  of  about  4000,  and  its  ordinary  depth 
varied  from  sixteen  to  thirty-two  (that  of  the  old  Spartan 
phalanx  having  seldom  exceeded  eight) .  The  men  were  heavily 
armoured  and  bore  great  shields.  Their  principal  weapon  was 
a  very  long  spear  (the  sari^sa),  and  the  files  were  so  arranged 
that  the  spears  of  even  the  fifth  rank  protruded  three  feet  in 
front  of  the  first  rank.  The  greater  phalanx  sometimes  con- 
sisted of  four  such  bodies  of  about  4000  each ;  but  even  the 
single  phalanx  was  unwieldy,  and  if  once  broken  was  useless. 
Otherwise  its  impact  was  almost  irresistible. 

But  Philip  did  not  trust  only  to  his  army.  By  the  acquisition 
of  Thracian  mines  and  by  getting  Thasian  miners  to  work  the 
gold  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  town,  Philippi,  newly  founded 
on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Crenides,  he  obtained  large  revenues 
(see  Note  C,  on  Coins),  and  it  was  by  gold  that  he  gained  many 
of  his  successes.  ^ 

^  Diffidit  urbium  Portas  vir  Macedo  .  .  .  muneribus  {Hot.  C.  Ill,  xvi.). 
Juvenal  calls  him  the  callidus  emptor  Olynthi.  Cicero  tells  us  that  Philip 
used  to  say  he  could  take  any  town  into  which  an  ass  could  climb  laden 
with  gold.  i 

425 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Philippi  and  its  gold-mines  brought  Philip  and  the  Athenians 
into  collision.  AmphipoHs,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Strymon,  cut 
him  off  from  the  sea  and  commanded  the  access  to  the  gold- 
bearing  range  of  Mount  Pangaeus.  This  city,  a  colony  of 
Athens,  had  been  more  or  less  independent  ever  since  the  time 
of  Brasidas  (p.  338),  and  the  Chalcidian  Confederacy  of  Greek 
towns,  headed  by  Olynthus,  had  tried  in  vain  to  gain  it  as  an 
ally.  By  cunningly  playing  off  Olynthus  against  Athens  Philip 
duped  both  of  them  and  captured  Amphipolis,  and  soon  after- 
wards Pydna  and  Potidaea  fell  into  his  hands.  This  happened 
in  356 — ^the  year  in  which  his  son  Alexander  was  bom  ;  and, 
as  Plutarch  remarks,  the  year  brought  Philip  a  third  gift  of 
fortune,  namely,  an  Olympic  victory. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  follow  closely  the  tortuous  and  per- 
plexing course  of  events  during  the  next  twenty  years.  Some 
of  the  more  important  details  will  be  given  later  in  connexion 
with  Demosthenes.  The  following  brief  summary  will  suffice 
to  show  how  the  crafty  Macedonian  took  advantage  of  the 
rivalries  and  dissensions  of  the  Greek  states,  and  how  he 
deluded  the  hopes  of  those  who,  as  Isocrates  and  Bubulus 
and  Phocion,  more  or  less  openly  and  warmly  hailed  him  as 
the  healer  of  the  feuds  of  the  Greeks  and  their  leader  against 
the  barbarian  foe.  We  shall  see  how  he  extinguished  the 
last  possibilities  of  liberty  and  of  nationality  and  of  that 
self-government  whereof  the  Hellenic  world,  by  its  never- 
ending  fratricidal  wars  and  its  political  animosities  and 
atrocities,  had  proved  itself  to  be  unworthy. 

Between  357  and  355  Athens  has  once  more,  as  of  old,  serious 
troubles  (sometimes  called  a  '  Social  War  ')  with  her  allies. 
Byzantium,  Rhodes,  Chios,  Cos,  I^esbos,  Corcyra,  all  revolt. 
Expeditions  are  sent,  first  under  a  young  firebrand.  Chares, 
and  the  old  warrior  Chabrias,  the  victor  of  Naxos,  and  when 
Chabrias  is  defeated  and  slain  the  veteran  commanders 
Timotheus  (son  of  Conon)  and  Iphicrates  are  dispatched  to 
support  Chares.  This  fiery  and  dissolute  son  of  Ares*^accuses 
his  more  prudent  colleagues  of  cowardice,  and  the  Athenian 
mob,  evidently  influenced  by  bribed  demagogues,  actually 
426 


b 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

condemns  Timotheus  and  imposes  a  fine  of  loo  talents,  so  that 
the  old  admiral  has  to  escape  to  Chalcis,  where  he  dies.  Chares 
then  allies  himself  with  the  revolted  satrap  Artabazus  and  so 
incenses  the  Great  King,  Artaxerxes  III  (Ochus),  that  he 
threatens  to  aid  the  revolted  allies  of  Athens.  Mausolus, 
too,  the  dynast  of  Caria,  who  had  acquired  a  large  fleet  and 
had  annexed  I/ycia,  actually  affords  them  aid,  so  that  finally 
the  Athenians  are  obliged  to  recognize  the  independence  of 
many  of  the  subject  states  of  their  new  empire,  the  whole 
revenues  from  which  now  amount  to  no  more  than  forty-five 
talents  yearly. 

Meanwhile  a  disastrous  quarrel  had  broken  out  between  the 
Thebans  and  the  Phocians.  Phocis  was  accused  of  having 
cultivated  a  part  of  the  sacred  Crissaean,  or  Cirrhaean,  plain 
near  Delphi.  Some  ninety  years  before  (448)  the  Phocians 
had  with  the  aid  of  Athens  seized  Delphi,  but  had  been 
ejected  by  the  Spartans,  who  restored  the  Delphians.^  On 
the  present  occasion  the  Athenians  openly  and  the  Spartans 
secretly  sided  with  Phocis,  which  had  of  late  become  powerful 
enough  to  contest  the  '  supremacy  '  with  Thebes  and  to  occupy 
Thessaly,  and  had  renewed  her  claim  (founded  on  a  line  in 
Homer)  to  the  possession  of  '  rocky  Pytho.'  Being  fined  heavily 
by  the  Amphictionic  Council,  the  Phocians,  led  by  Philomelus, 
Seized  Delphi.  The  Thebans,  however,  defeated  them  and 
Philomelus  perished,  leaping  over  a  precipice  to  save  himself 
from  capture.  The  Phocians  were  then  led  by  Onomarchus, 
brother  of  Philomelus,  who  hired  a  large  body  of  mercenaries 
with  the  treasures  of  the  Delphic  temple. 

At  this  juncture  (353)  PhiHp  of  Macedon  intervened.  He 
had  just  captured  Methone,^  on  the  Thermaic  Gulf,  the  last 
ally  of  Athens  in  that  quarter,  and  pushing  down  into  Thessaly, 
after  two  serious  repulses,  utterly  routed  the  Phocians  and 
killed  Onomarchus ;  but,  finding  Thermopylae  and  Boeotia 
occupied  by  the  Athenians,  he  returned  to  Macedonia,  and 

1  The  three  '  Sacred  Wars  '  of  c.  590,  448,  and  356  should  be  noted. 

2  He  is  said  to  have  lost  an  eye  during  the  siege.  As  Demosthenes  said, 
"  To  gain  empire  and  power  Philip  had  an  eye  knocked  out,  a  collar-bone 
broken,  an  arm  maimed,  and  a  leg  lamed." 

427 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

turned   his   attention   to   the   conquest   of   Thrace  and  the 
Chersonese. 

It  was  now  that  Demosthenes,  who  for  the  last  three  or  four 
years  had  been  attracting  notice  by  his  pubHc  speeches,  came 
forward  to  attack  PhiHp.  PubHc  affairs  at  Athens  were  at 
this  time  under  the  guidance  of  a  poHtical  party  the  chief 
leaders  of  which  were  Eubulus  and  Phocion.  The  former  had 
proved  himself  a  wise  financier  as  president  of  the  public 
Theoric  Fund,  and  his  poHcy,  as  well  as  that  of  the  strategos 
Phocion,  was  that  of  non-aggression,  of  peace  and  amity  among 
the  Greek  states,  and  of  friendliness  and  confidence  towards 
Macedonia — without  probably  going  so  far  as  the  old  orator 
Isocrates,  who  seems  almost  to  have  hailed  Philip  of  Macedon  as 
the  heaven-sent  leader  of  Hellas.  Whether  was  wisest  the  policy 
of  this  moderate  party,  the  pro-Macedonian  pan-Hellenism 
of  Isocrates,  or  the  fierce  miso-Philippic,  self-centred,  and 
exclusively  Athenian  patriotism  of  Demosthenes,  is  not  an  easy 
question  to  answer  satisfactorily.  The  programme  of  Isocrates 
was  what  was  destined  to  be  carried  out — except  that  Greece 
was  to  become  enslaved  by  the  heaven-sent  Macedonian  leader 
— but  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  moved  by  the  fiery  indigna- 
tion and  the  eloquent  zeal  of  the  great  Athenian  orator, 
however  much  one  may  deplore  a  state  of  things  in  which  an 
irresponsible  and  excitable  democracy  is  swayed  by  mere 
oratory. 

PhiHp,  as  we  have  seen,  had  already  possessed  himself  of 
AmphipoHs,  Potidaea,  and  other  Athenian  towns  in  Chalcidice 
and  the  neighbourhood.  He  now  (351)  threatens  Olynthus, 
the  chief  of  the  Greek  Chalcidian  Confederacy.  Demosthenes 
endeavours  by  his  Olynthiac  orations  to  rouse  the  Athenians, 
but  the  peace  party  is  slow  to  move,  and  Philip,  by  means 
of  his  war-engines  and  his  gold,  gains  possession  of  the  town. 
He  razed  it  to  the  ground  and  enslaved  the  population.  Then 
he  attacked  the  Chersonese,  and  thus  threatened  to  cut  off  the 
Euxine  trade,  on  which  Athens  largely  depended  for  supplies 
— a  move  by  which  at  last  public  feeHng  was  thoroughly  excited 
and  the  influence  of  Demosthenes  strengthened. 
428 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

Meanwhile  the  '  Sacred  War  '  between  the  Phocians  and 
Thebans  had  been  continued  from  year  to  year  with  no  decisive 
results,  although  both  Athens  and  Sparta  had  sent  large 
contingents  to  help  the  Phocians,  whose  leader,  Phayllus,  a 
brother  of  Philomelus  and  Onomarchus,  freely  plundered  the 
Delphic  treasury  to  pay  his  mercenary  troops.  At  last  Athens, 
weary  and  possibly  somewhat  ashamed  of  her  Phocian  allies, 
was  meditating  friendship  with  Thebes,  when  Philip,  quick  to 
see  and  seize  his  opportunity,  made  overtures  to  the  Athenians. 
They  forthwith  dispatched  to  Pella  an  ambassador,  Philocrates, 
with  nine  officials  in  his  train,  among  whom  were  Demosthenes 
and  his  great  rival,  Aeschines  ;  but  the  wily  Macedonian  seems 
to  have  been  too  clever  for  them  all,  and  to  have  once  more 
found  his  gold  effective.  He  sent  commissioners  to  Athens,  and 
a  second  Athenian  embassy  visited  Pella  and  was  kept  waiting 
for  weeks  till  he  returned  from  a  Thracian  expedition,  and  then 
had  to  dance  attendance  on  him  while  he  marched  through 
Thessaly  ;  and  when  at  last  they  were  allowed  to  return,  with 
the  humiliating  treaty  at  length  fully  ratified,  they  were 
closely  followed  by  Philip,  who  this  time  found  Thermopylae 
unoccupied  and  the  Phocians  at  his  mercy. 

Great  was  the  indignation  and  the  consternation  at  Athens 
when  it  was  realized  that,  instead  of  crushing  Thebes,  Philip 
meant  to  annihilate  Phocis.  The  partisans  of  Demosthenes 
were  full  of  impotent  fury,  and  he  himself  fiercely  assailed 
Aeschines  ^  and  Philocrates  on  the  charge  of  accepting  bribes 
from  Philip  and  playing  a  treasonable  part  as  peace-com- 
missioners ;  but  the  Athenian  mob  was  paralysed  with 
fear  and  sent  congratulations  to  Philip,  renouncing  their 
support  of  the  Phocians.  Every  town  in  Phocis,  except  Abac, 
was  then  razed  to  the  ground  and  the  inhabitants  dispersed 
into  small  hamlets.  For  this  act  Philip  had  craftily  obtained 
the  sanction  of  the  Amphictionic  Council,  which  also  decreed 

1  He  was,  however,  cowed  for  the  time  by  an  attack  made  by  Aeschines 
on  Timarchus,  one  of  his  associates  of  evil  repute,  and  did  not  renew  the 
charge  until  343,  when  Philocrates  evaded  trial  by  flight  and  Aeschines, 
who  was  supported  by  Eubulus  and  Phocion,  made  a  plucky  defence  and 
was  acquitted — though  doubtless  he  had  accepted  Philip's  gold. 

429 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
that  Phocis  should  restore  by  yearly  payments  all  that  had 
been  taken  from  the  Delphic  treasury.  The  Macedonian 
king,  as  a  Greek  potentate,  was  then  given  the  votes  in  the 
Amphictionic  Council  (see  coin  9,  Plate  V)  which  had  been 
possessed  by  Phocis,  and  as  champion  of  the  Delphic  god  he 
was  granted  the  presidency  of  the  Pythian  Games,  which 
happened  to  be  celebrated  in  this  year  (346).  At  Athens  this 
was  regarded  as  insufferable.  No  delegates  were  sent  to  the 
festival.  Philip  contemptuously  ignored  the  insult,  but  sent 
a  formal  notification  of  his  election,  which  was  equivalent  to, 
an  ultimatum ;  however,  he  deferred  open  hostiHty  till  a 
more  convenient  season. 

Such  was  the  sequel  of  the  dishonourable  Peace  of  Philo- 
crates,  in  which  Athens  had  been  thoroughly  outwitted  by  the 
craft  and  the  rapidity  of  Philip.  She  was  forced  to  conceal  her 
shame  and  indignation  under  a  show  of  servility.  Even  Demos- 
thenes himself  thought  it  advisable  in  his  speech  On  the  Peace 
to  advocate  a  temporizing  submission,  while  at  the  same  time 
his  fury  against  his  personal  enemy,  Aeschines,  was,  as  we 
shall  see,  intensified  by  the  failure  of  his  impeachment.  More 
worthy  of  our  respect,  even  if  we  cannot  allow  it  our  full 
sympathy,  was  the  action  of  the  '  old  man  eloquent,'  Isocrates 
— now  in  his  ninety-first  year.  By  his  written  speeches  and 
letters  he  had  for  a  long  time  persistently  and  quietly  asserted 
his  belief  in  Macedonian  hegemony,  and  he  now  addressed  to 
Philip  a  letter  full  of  dignity,  urging  him  to  assume  the  leader- 
ship against  Persia  and  begging  him  to  prove  that  he  was  not 
plotting  against  the  liberties  of  Greece. 

Between  346  and  341  this  Peace  of  Philocrates,  though  a 
hollow  affair,  continued  to  remain  formally  unbroken,  in  spite 
of  the  vehement  attacks  made  on  the  Macedonian  king  by 
Demosthenes,  whose  Second  Philippic  (344),  by  its  outspoken 
accusations  of  perfidy,  proved  that  the  orator  had  recovered 
from  his  temporary  mood  of  submission.  Philip  took  but  little 
notice.  He  was  waiting  for  his  opportunity.  Meantime  he 
ravaged  Illyria,  occupied  Thessaly,  and,  having  built  a  con- 
siderable fleet  (ostensibly  against  Persia),  began  to  menace  the 


121.  The  Lion  of  Chaeroneia 


^""^ ■■ 

;d 

itti 

m^'.^ 

bJtk 

'i 

1^:., .. 

MM 

'^^^^fr 

^9^ 

■"H. 

•i--^          ^     «-                 :.-«-. 

122.  Arcadian  Gate,  Messene 


430 


I 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

Athenian  settlements  on  the  Chersonese,  whereby  Athenian 
and  Macedonian  troops  actually  came  into  collision.  Hereupon 
Philip,  with  crafty  impudence,  sent  a  letter  of  remonstrance 
to  Athens,  recounting  his  grievances  and  complaining  that 
the  Athenians  had  rejected  his  overtures  and  refused  arbitra- 
tion. A  result  of  this  was  a  speech  by  Demosthenes  In  Answer 
to  the  Letter  of  Philip,  and  another  Concerning  Affairs  in  the 
Chersonese,  and  these  speeches  were  followed  up  by  the 
still  louder  war-blast  of  the  Third  Philippic.  Moreover,  the 
orator  actually  tried  to  practise  what  he  preached.  He  went 
to  the  Hellespont  and  persuaded  Byzantium  and  Perinthus  to 
secede  from  alHance  with  Philip.  But  the  man  of  deeds  recked 
little  of  the  man  of  words.  He  forthwith  captured  various 
Greek  towns  on  the  Propontis  and  brought  up  his  siege-engines 
against  Perinthus,  and  tried  to  surprise  Byzantium.  In  these 
undertakings,  however,  he  was  foiled  by  the  advent  of  a  large 
Athenian  fleet  under  Chares  and  Phocion.  For  a  few  months 
he  withdrew  into  the  wilds  of  Thrace  in  order  to  punish  rebel- 
lious Scythian  tribes  ;  but  the  open  defiance  of  the  Athenians 
had  determined  him  to  take  his  revenge  on  the  first  oppor- 
tunity. 

This  opportunity  soon  came.  The  cultivation  of  the  sacred 
ground  near  Delphi  (anciently  called  the  Crissaean  or  Cirrhaean 
plain)  had  once  more  excited  the  votaries  of  the  god.  This  time 
it  was  the  town  of  Amphissa  that  had  perpetrated  the  sacri- 
lege, and  the  Amphictionic  Council  called  upon  PhiHp,  as  the 
champion  of  the  deity,  to  punish  the  offender. 

In  the  spring  of  338  he  marched  southward ;  but  instead 
of  attacking  Amphissa  he  seized  Klateia,  a  town  of  Northern 
Phocis,  and  began  to  entrench  himself.  At  Athens  the  news 
caused  an  indescribable  panic.  On  the  advice  of  Demosthenes 
an  embassy  was  sent  to  beg  the  Thebans  for  support,  and  a 
combined  army  of  Thebans  and  Athenians,  with  a  few  auxi- 
liaries from  Corinth,  Megara,  and  Kuboea,  marched  to  meet 
the  Macedonians.  A  few  miles  before  they  reached  the  frontier 
of  Phocis  they  were  met,  on  the  plain  of  Chaeroneia,  by  the 
army  of  PhiHp,  and  suffered  a  disastrous  defeat  (August  7, 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
338).  The  battle  is  said  to  have  been  decided  by  a  brilliant 
charge  of  the  Macedonian  '  companions '  (horse-guards) ,  led 
by  Alexander,  then  a  youth  of  eighteen/  but  the  result  was 
mainly  due  to  the  larger  numbers  of  the  Macedonians  and  their 
superiority  in  arms,  training,  and  generalship — for  the  best  of 
the  Athenian  commanders  was  Chares,  and  he  was  opposed  to 
Philip  himself.  The  Thebans  who  fell  were  buried  on  the  field  of 
battle,  and  beside  the  cemetery  was  erected  a  great  stone  lion, 
which  was  still  in  position  in  the  days  of  Pausanias,  but  sub- 
sequently was  overthrown  and  covered  with  earth.  Not  many 
years  ago  the  fragments  were  excavated,  and  quite  lately  they 
have  been  reconstructed  (see  Fig.  121). 

Demosthenes  was  present  at  the  battle  as  hoplite,  and  saved 
himself  by  flight.  It  is  said  that  Philip,  after  celebrating  his 
victory  at  a  banquet,  came  reeling  drunk  to  the  field  of  battle 
and  jeered  at  his  prisoners  and  the  flight  of  the  great  orator, 
singing  in  triumph  the  words  (that  happened  to  make  a  comic 
iambic  verse)  Ari/uLOcrOevr}?  A-nimocrOevov^  Haiavievg  tolS^  elirev — 
"  Demosthenes,  the  son  of  Demosthenes,  of  the  deme  Paeania, 
thus  spake." 

But  among  the  captives  was  an  Athenian  orator  named 
Demades,  who,  though  a  bitter  adversary  of  Demosthenes  and 
an  advocate  of  Macedonian  supremacy,  was  so  moved  by 
disgust  as  to  tell  Philip  that  "  though  fortune  had  given  him 
the  part  of  Agamemnon  he  was  playing  the  part  of  Thersites." 
This  sobered  the  king,  and  instead  of  resenting  the  remark 
of  Demades  he  took  him  into  his  confidence  and  sent  him  as 
envoy  to  Athens.  Moreover,  he  had  the  magnanimity,  or  the 
diplomatic  wisdom,  to  treat  the  Athenians  with  surprising 
lenience,  and  to  win  their  approbation  by  his  severity  against 
the  Thebans.  He  sent  back  all  the  Athenian  prisoners  unran- 
somed  and  laden  with  gifts,  while  he  occupied  the  Cadmeia  of 
Thebes  with  a  Macedonian  garrison.  He  then  marched  south- 
wards, and  after  accepting  the  submission  of  all  the  Pelopon- 
nese  except  Sparta,  whose  territory  he  ravaged,  he  held  a 

^  'Alexander's  oak,'  under  which,  it  is  said,  his  tent  was  pitched,  still 
stood  some  centuries  later. 

432 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

congress  at  Corinth  and  was  appointed  chief  commander  of 
the  Greek  states  against  Persia.^  l^ 

War  was  formally  declared  against  the  barbarian,  and  after 
consolidating  his  northern  dominions,  from  Ambracia  to 
Byzantium,  the  Macedonian  generalissimo  of  Hellas  began 
to  collect  a  great  army  for  the  invasion  of  Asia. 

But  Philip's  dream  of  Oriental  conquest  was  not  to  be 
realized.  He  had  already  sent  across  to  Asia  the  vanguard  of 
his  army  under  the  command  of  his  generals  Parmenio  and 
Attains,  and  was  intending  soon  to  follow,  when  his  life  was 
cut  short.  Olympias,  the  mother  of  his  son  Alexander,  was  an 
Epirot  princess,  daughter  of  the  king  Neoptolemus,  who  traced 
his  descent  from  the  son  of  Achilles.  She  had  perhaps  inherited 
the  proud  and  wrathful  temperament  of  her  great  ancestor, 
and  possessed  the  somewhat  savage  characteristics  of  Epirot 
women,  who  were  noted  for  their  wild  excesses  in  the  worship 
of  Dionysus.  Her  uncanny  habits  (one  of  which  was  the 
keeping  of  poisonous  snakes)  and  her  violent  temper  seem  to 
have  repelled  PhiHp  and  to  have  exposed  her  to  the  suspicion 
of  insanity — a  suspicion  that  seems  justified  by  not  a  few  acts 
of  her  son.  Philip,  who  is  said  to  have  possessed  a  considerable 
harem  besides  his  queenly  spouse,  took  to  himself  as  consort 
(perhaps  after  formally  repudiating  Olympias)  the  niece  of 
his  general  Attains,  Cleopatra  by  name.  At  the  wedding  feast 
the  intoxicated  uncle  of  the  bride  called  upon  heaven  to  bless 
the  marriage  with  a  '  legitimate  '  heir  to  the  throne  of  Mace- 
donia, and  Alexander,  in  furious  indignation  at  the  insult,  hurled 
a  wine-goblet  at  Attains.  Philip  seized  his  sword,  but  reeled 
and  fell  as  he  rushed  at  Alexander,  who  left  the  banquet-hall 
exclaiming,  "  lyO,  the  man  who  wishes  to  cross  from  Europe  to 
Asia,  but  falls  as  he  crosses  from  one  couch  to  another  !  " 

Olympias  and  her  son  fled — she  to  her  brother  Alexander, 
king  of  Epirus,  he  to  Illyria.  Philip,  however,  offering  the  hand 
of  a  daughter  to  his  brother-in-law,  and  bringing  his  powers 

1  Artaxerxes  III  was  poisoned  by  the  eunuch  Bagoas  in  338,  and  his  son 
Arses  was  also  murdered  by  him  (336),  whereupon  the  all-powerful  Bagoas  set 
Darius  III  on  the  throne.  In  338  Athens  entreated  Persia  for  help  against 
Philip,  but  was  '  haughtily  and  barbarously  '  repelled. 

2E  433 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

of  persuasion  to  bear  on  the  young  Alexander,  succeeded, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  in  effecting  the  return  of  the  fugitives. 

In  the  spring  of  336  the  marriage  of  PhiHp's  daughter  and 
the  Kpirot  king  was  solemnized  with  great  magnificence  at 
Aegae,  the  ancient  capital.  On  the  following  day  a  public 
procession  took  place,  during  which  a  young  man  suddenly 
rushed  forth  from  the  crowd  and  plunged  a  sword  into  Philip's 
side,  kilHng  him  on  the  spot.  He  was  pursued  and  cut  down 
by  the  royal  guards.  It  is  said  that  his  motive  was  to  revenge 
an  outrage  of  Attains  which  Philip  had  refused  to  punish ; 
but  doubtless  he  was  also  instigated  to  the  deed  by  Olympias. 
That  Alexander  knew  and  approved  is  not  probable,  although 
one  of  the  accomplices,  Alexander  of  I^yncestis,  who  was  fore- 
most in  acclaiming  him  as  the  new  monarch,  not  only  escaped 
the  punishment  that  Alexander  threatened  against  the  con- 
spirators, but  later  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  the  king  and  was 
loaded  with  honours. 

The  existence  of  ancient  Greece  as  a  free  country  (a  nation 
she  never  had  been)  is  often  said  to  have  ended  with  the  disaster 
of  Chaeroneia.  Her  history  is  henceforth,  after  a  few  vain 
attempts  to  regain  liberty,  for  many  years  merged  in  that  of 
Macedonia,  and  is  no  longer  of  much  interest  except  in  so  far 
as  by  her  art  and  literature  and  philosophy  she  *'  took  captive 
her  barbarian  conqueror."  ^ 

But  perhaps  we  may  regard  the  departure  of  Alexander  for 
the  East  in  334  as  the  real  beginning  of  the  Hellenistic  age,  for 
ere  this  took  place  he  had  asserted  the  Macedonian  supremacy 
and  crushed  out  all  hope  of  resistance  by  a  chastisement  still 
more  terrible  than  that  of  Chaeroneia.  ^ 

Demosthenes  had  proposed  to  celebrate  Philip's  death  by 
a  public  thanksgiving  and  to  pay  honour  to  the  memory 
of  his  assassin.  The  proposal  had  been  indignantly  opposed 
by  the  more  noble-minded  Phocion,  who,  in  words  that  recall 
the   rebuke   administered   by   Odysseus    to    old    Eurycleia, 

1  Graecia  capta  ferum  victorem  cepit  .  .  .  (Hor.  Ep.  II,  i.  156)  applies 
equally  well  to  Macedon  and  to  the  later  conqueror,  Rome. 

*  Once  more,  after  Alexander's  death,  Athens  persuaded  other  Greek  cities 
to  join  her  in  revolt,  but  was  finally  overwhelmed  at  Crannon,  in  322. 

434 


123-    Al^EXANDER 


124.    ISOCRATES 


125.  Aeschines 


126.  Epicurus  434 


r" 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

exclaimed  that  "  nothing  shows  a  more  dastardly  nature  than 
to  rejoice  over  the  death  of  an  enemy."  But  pubHc  jubilations 
took  place  in  Athens,  and  Demosthenes  poured  his  contempt 
on  the  young  king,  whom  he  likened  to  the  Homeric  *  Margites  ' 
— the  well-known  type  of  a  blatant  braggart.  Other  cities  also 
began  to  show  signs  of  disaffection,  and  embassies  were  being 
sent  to  Persia  and  to  Attains,  who  had  declared  for  his  niece's 
infant  son.  But  with  astounding  rapidity  Alexander  swept 
down  on  Greece,  suppressed  an  insurrection  in  Thessaly, 
strengthened  the  Macedonian  garrison  in  Thebes,  received  a 
submissive  embassy  from  Athens,  called  a  congress  at  Corinth 
(where  he  was  appointed  generalissimo  of  Greece  in  the  place 
of  his  father,  and  had  his  celebrated  interview  with  the  Cynic 
Diogenes),  and  then  hastened  back  to  chastise  the  Thracians 
and  other  northern  tribes,  whom  he  chased  over  the  Danube, 
and  finally  turned  his  arms  against  the  western  tribes  of 
Illyrians  and  Taulantians  and  reduced  them  to  submission. 

A  rumour  now  reached  Greece  that  Alexander  had  been 
slain  in  battle.  Demosthenes  produced  a  man  who  swore  that 
he  had  witnessed  it.  The  Thebans  blockaded  the  Macedonian 
garrison  in  the  Cadmeia,  and  called  on  Athens  and  other  cities 
to  rise.  But  suddenly,  ere  any  plan  had  been  developed,  a 
Macedonian  army  was  reported  in  Boeotia,  and  scarce  had 
the  Thebans  recovered  from  their  delusion  that  he  was  dead 
when  Alexander  was  before  their  walls,  and  soon  after  he  was 
in  possession  of  their  city.  A  terrible  massacre  took  place. 
Six  thousand  were  butchered  and  thirty  thousand  enslaved. 
The  Greek  allies  of  Alexander,  the  Phocians,  Plataeans,  and 
Orchomenians  (or  perhaps  the  delegates  of  the  Corinthian 
Congress),  were  commissioned  to  decide  the  fate  of  Thebes. 
The  city  was  razed  to  the  ground  and  her  territory  divided 
among  other  Greek  states.  Only  one  single  house  was  left 
standing — the  house  of  the  great  Theban  poet.  Perhaps  the 
temples  were  spared,  although  Milton  tells  us  that 

The  great  Emathian  conqueror  bid  spare 

The  house  of  Pindarus,  when  temple  and  tower 

Went  to  the  ground. 

435 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

Alexander,  it  is  said,  repented  this  destruction,  and  attri^ 
buted  his  fits  of  uncontrollable  fury  (in  one  of  which  he  killed 
Cleitus,  who  had  saved  his  life)  to  the  anger  of  the  wine-god 
Dionysus,  who  specially  favoured  Thebes.  The  city,  thus 
cruelly  destroyed  in  335,  was  rebuilt  by  Cassander  in  316, 
but  never  again  became  of  much  importance. 

The  conduct  of  the  Athenians  on  this  occasion,  although 
allowance  may  be  made  for  panic,  seems  very  contemptible. 
A  few  days  after  deciding  to  send  troops  to  aid  Thebes  in  her 
revolt  they  sent  an  embassy  to  Alexander  congratulating  him 
on  the  annihilation  of  the  rebellious  city.  Alexander  replied 
by  demanding  the  surrender  of  Demosthenes  and  other  anti- 
Macedonian  demagogues,  and  Demosthenes  owed  his  life  to 
the  intercession  of  Phocion. 

The  name  of  Phocion  reminds  us  that  we  should  not  judge 
the  Athenian  people  solely  by  the  decrees  of  popular  assemblies, 
the  verdicts  of  dicasteries,  and  the  rancour  and  sophistries  of 
orators.  Although  scorned  by  the  militant  imperiahsm  and 
Demosthenic  patriotism  of  the  day  as  a  pro-Macedonian  and 
an  advocate  of  peace  at  any  price,  Phocion,  like  doubtless  many 
other  wise  and  honest  men  in  Athens,  sincerely,  if  mistakenly, 
believed  in  what  he  held  to  be  a  higher  form  of  patriotism, 
not  merely  Athenian,  but  Hellenic,  and  he  was,  what  can  be 
said  of  very  few  Greek  political  celebrities  except  Aristides 
and  Timoleon  (and  certainly  not  of  Demosthenes),  as  ''mani- 
festly proof  against  bribery  "  as  Pericles  himself.  It  is  pleasant 
to  be  able  to  end  this  brief  chronicle  of  the  external  history  of 
ancient  Greece  with  an  anecdote  which  is  well  invented,  if 
not  (though  it  possibly  is)  perfectly  true.  Alexander  sent 
Phocion  a  present  of  a  hundred  talents.  Phocion  asked  how  he 
had  deserved  such  a  distinction.  "  Because,"  repUed  the  envoy, 
"  the  king  regards  you  as  the  only  just  and  honest  man  in 
Athens.*'  "  Then,"  answered  Phocion,  '*  I  beg  him  to  allow 
me  to  remain  such." 

Alas  !  justice  and  honesty  force  one  to  add  that  some  eigh- 
teen years  later,  amidst  frenetic  acclamation,  this  '  one  just 
man'  was  condemned  to  death  for  treason  by  the  Athenian 
436 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

Assembly — to  the  same  death  as  that  by  which  Socrates  had 
died — and  that  not  long  afterwards  they  celebrated  his  funeral 
obsequies  at  public  expense  and  erected  a  statue  to  his  memory, 
thus  honouring  him  as  a  patriot  and  martyr. 

SECTION  A :    ISOCRATES  :  AESCHINES  :  DEMOSTHENES  : 
LATER  PHILOSOPHERS 

Isocrates  (436-338)  was  an  Athenian.  Among  his  teachers 
were  Socrates  (who  in  Plato's  Phaedrus  prophesies  great  things 
of  him)  and  Gorgias.  He  first  taught  rhetoric  in  Chios,  and 
afterwards  in  Athens,  where  he  acquired  great  reputation  and 
wealth.  Of  his  twenty-two  extant  orations  the  best  known 
are  the  Panegyricus  and  the  Areopagiticus.  On  account  of 
his  timidity  and  weak  voice,  as  he  tells  us,  he  renounced  pubhc 
speaking,  and  even  the  Panegyricus,  an  early  work  and  osten- 
sibly addressed  to  a  national  assembly  (Tramjyvpi^) ,  such  as 
that  at  Olympia,  may  not  have  been  delivered  in  pubHc.  The 
one  great  idea  that  dominated  Isocrates  all  through  his  long  hfe 
was  the  possibiHty  of  putting  an  end  to  the  insane  fratricidal 
strife  of  the  Greek  cities  for  '  supremacy  '  and  of  uniting  them 
against  the  common  enemy.  It  was  shortly  after  the  humi- 
liating '  Peace  of  the  Great  King '  (Peace  of  Antalcidas)  in  387 
that  he  wrote  his  Panegyric — fifty  years  before  Chaeroneia, 
and  some  thirty  years  before  PhiHp's  accession.  At  this  time 
he  had  not  yet  given  up  the  hope  that  Athens  and  Sparta 
might  be  reconciled  and  might  share  the  hegemony,  Athens 
supreme  on  the  sea  and  Sparta  on  land.  He  begins  by  lament- 
ing (as  Solon  did)  that  while  honours  are  showered  on  athletes 
no  honour  awaits  the  wise  counsellor,  for  rhetoric  with  its 
sounding  brass  and  its  sophistries  fascinates  pubHc  regard, 
"depreciating  what  is  important  and  exalting  triviahties, 
talking  in  a  new-fangled  way  of  old  things  and  in  archaic 
fashion  of  new."  He  next  states  his  case  for  the  amicable 
division  of  the  supremacy,  and  then  launches  out  into  eloquent 
and  enthusiastic  praise  (hence  the  later  meaning  of  '  pan- 
egyric ')  of  Athens,  showing  how  from  the  legendary  age  of 

437 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

the  heroes  down  to  the  present  she  had  deserved  well  of  Greece 
and  had  won,  and  lost,  and  yet  once  more  was  winning,  a 
supremacy  as  queen  of  the  sea.  He  defends  her  (not  very 
successfully)  against  the  charge  of  despotism  and  inhumanity. 
Then  he  turns  to  Sparta  and  speaks  of  Thermopylae  and 
Plataea,  and  how  she  has  won  a  right  to  military  supremacy 
on  land.  He  then  points  out  how,  in  spite  of  her  great  size, 
Persia  had  never  been  able  to  hold  her  ground  before  Greek 
courage,  and  he  cites  Marathon  and  Cunaxa.  Then  he  returns 
to  the  burden  of  his  lamentations  against  the  civil  wars  of 
Greece,  and  bids  his  imaginary  hearers  think  of  the  glorious 
and  exhilarating  poetry,  such  as  that  of  Homer  and  of  Aeschy- 
lus, that  describes  the  victories  of  Greeks  over  barbarians, 
and  reminds  them  (forgetting  the  Seven  against  Thebes,  but 
otherwise  reminding  them  with  justice)  that  no  great  Greek 
poetry  described  the  quarrels  of  Hellenes  with  each  other. 
And  very  justly,  too,  he  inveighs  against  the  shameful  peace 
lately  dictated  by  the  Great  King,  and  once  more  turns  with 
rapture  to  the  visions  of  an  united  Hellas  and  of  the  conquest 
of  Asia  Minor  by  the  Greeks.  One  of  these  visions  was  indeed 
in  a  fashion  realized,  but  under  a  hegemony  of  which  he  at 
that  time  did  not  dream. 

The  Panegyric  was  applauded  as  a  triumph  of  literary  oratory, 
but  the  visionary  politics  of  Isocrates  were  not  taken  seriously 
by  the  Athenian  pubHc,  and  even  by  men  like  Phocion  they 
were  probably  regarded  as  of  such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made 
of.  Athens  and  Sparta  could  no  more  share  hegemony  than 
nowadays  could  England  and  Germany,  though  between  the 
Ionic  and  the  Doric  Hellene  there  existed  a  closer  relationship 
than  that  between  Anglo-Saxon  and  Teuton. 

The  Areopagitic  Oration  (after  which  Milton  named  his 
famous  treatise  on  the  liberty  of  the  Press)  was  written  c.  355, 
after  the  so-called  Social  War,  in  which  Athens  had  lost  some 
of  her  chief  subject-allies.  It  was  not  spoken,  but  is  addressed 
to  the  Athenian}^  Kcclesia.  After  warning  the  Athenians 
against  their  love  of  money  and  display  and  their  arrogant 
self-conceit,  and  urging  a  return  to  simplicitv  and  manliness, 

438 


127-    DEMOSTHENES 


438 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

he  points  out  the  perils  that  threaten  them,  and  then  states 
(what  must  have  excited  many  a  smile)  that  the  only  means 
of  safety  is  to  restore  the  old  Solonian  and  Cleisthenic 
democracy  and  to  revive  the  supreme  authority  of  the  ancient 
and  aristocratic  court  of  the  Areopagus. 

In  346,  when  a  peace  (that  of  Philocrates)  had  been  made 
with  Philip,  Isocrates,  as  we  have  seen,  addressed  him  a  letter. 
"  This  is,"  he  says,  "  no  sudden  and  passing  whim  of  an 
imbecile  old  man,  but  a  belief  that  I  have  held  all  my  life. 
The  hour  is  now  come.  Under  thy  leadership  Hellas  shall 
conquer  Persia.''  But  he  entreats  PhiHp  to  prove  that  he  is 
not  plotting  against  the  liberties  of  Greece. 

What  Isocrates  thought  of  Philip's  rapid  acquisition  of 
Hellenic  cities  and  of  the  fate  of  the  Phocians  it  is  not  easy  to 
discover.  Whether  the  tidings  of  Chaeroneia  did  cause,  as  Milton 
asserts,  the  death  of  the  '  old  man  eloquent,'  and  whether  it 
was  caused  by  grief  or  by  a  sudden  access  of  hopeful  enthu- 
siasm, are  questions  that  have  received  very  diverse  answers. 

Aeschines 

Of  Aeschines,  the  great  rival  of  Demosthenes,  we  possess 
only  three  orations — that  against  Timarchus,  that  on  the 
Embassy,  and  that  against  Ctesiphon.  All  three  are  directed 
against  Demosthenes.  After  the  failure  of  his  attack  on 
Ctesiphon,  who  had  proposed  that  Demosthenes  should  be 
presented  with  a  golden  crown  in  the  great  theatre  at  the 
festival  of  the  Dionysia,  Aeschines,  not  having  gained  a 
fifth  of  the  votes,  was  heavily  fined,  and  escaped  to  Rhodes, 
where  he  founded  a  school  of  rhetoric.  He  died  at  Samos 
11314- 

Demosthenes 

Many  of  the  facts  of  the  life  of  Demosthenes  have  already 
been  related,  for  his  rhetorical  activity  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  political  events  of  the  last  period  that  we  have  con- 
sidered. For  some  time  after  the  departure  of  Alexander 
for  the  East  in  334  we  hear  comparatively  little  of  him.     The 

439 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
cause  celebre  of  the  Golden  Crown  was  decided  in  330.  We 
possess  the  speeches  of  both  orators,  and  can  Hsten,  as  it 
were,  to  the  very  tones  of  the  passionate  denunciations  that 
they  thundered  at  each  other.  The  speech  of  Aeschines, 
with  its  scathing  review  of  the  Hfe  of  Demosthenes,  is  so 
irresistibly  eloquent  that,  like  his  audience  at  Rhodes,  to  whom 
he  recited  it,  we  can  hardly  believe  it  possible  that  it  should 
have  failed — until  we  read  the  reply  of  Demosthenes,  which, 
if  it  does  not  impress  us  so  much  with  its  sincerity  and  straight- 
forwardness, is  incomparably  greater  in  eloquence. 

In  324  the  general  Harpalus,  whom  Alexander  had  left  to 
administer  the  satrapy  of  Babylon,  having  revolted,  passed 
over  to  Greece  with  a  fleet  of  thirty  ships  and  much  treasure 
and  endeavoured  to  incite  the  Greek  cities  to  join  him.  Har- 
palus was  murdered,  and  700  talents  of  his  money  were  seized 
by  the  Athenians  to  be  handed  over  to  Alexander.  Half  of 
the  money  disappeared,  and  Demosthenes  was  condemned  of 
theft  or  of  gross  negligence.  He  was  imprisoned,  but  escaped, 
and  lived  in  Troezen  and  Aegina  till  Alexander's  death, 
when  he  was  recalled.  But  Antipater,  Alexander's  gerent 
in  Macedonia,  crushed  the  Greeks  at  the  battle  of  Crannon 
(322)  and  Demosthenes  fled.  He  was  overtaken  by  Anti- 
pater's  emissaries  on  the  islet  of  Calaureia,  near  Troezen, 
where  he  had  taken  sanctuary.  When  arrested  he  poisoned 
himself. 

In  the  oratory  of  Demosthenes,  as  in  that  of  Cicero,  there 
is  nothing  of  the  sublime.  Its  characteristics  are  passionate 
intensity,  dauntless  courage  in  attack,  unrivalled  skill  in  defence, 
and  an  incomparable  mastery  over  words.  He  used  a  language  . 
free,  natural,  personal,  direct,  perfectly  plain  and  unaffected,  i 
entirely  untainted  by  the  rhetoric  of  the  schools.  He  depended, 
not  on  an  elegant  and  decorated  diction,  but  on  force,  vigour, 
and  dramatic  emphasis — such  as  he  meant  when  he  said  that 
the  three  things  necessary  for  the  orator  were  Acting  (vTroKpio-ig), 
Acting,  and  Acting.  A  few  lines  from  his  Third  Philippic, 
though  they  suffer  much  in  translation,  may  illustrate  this. 
How  different  his  feeling  about  the  fratricidal  wars  of  the 
440 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

Greek  states  was  from  that  of  Isocrates  is  very  evident  from 
the  opening  words. 

"  Ay,  and  what  is  more,  you  know  well  that  whatever  wrongs 
were  done  to  Greeks  by  the  Spartans  or  by  us  were  at  any 
rate  done  by  genuine  sons  of  Greece,  and  one  might  regard 
it  just  in  the  same  way  as  when  a  son  who  by  birth  is  the 
genuine  heir  to  a  large  property  indulges  in  some  pursuit  not 
admirable  or  right.  Such  conduct  in  itself  certainly  deserves 
to  be  blamed  and  reprimanded ;  but  one  cannot  regard  it 
as  if  he  did  not  belong  to  the  family  and  were  not  the  heir, 
whereas  if  a  servant,  or  some  supposititious  child,  were  to 
destroy  or  spoil  what  was  not  his  own,  good  heavens,  how 
much  more  readily  would  every  one  declare  that  he  was  a 
scamp  and  deserved  their  anger  !  But  concerning  Philip  and 
his  doings  they  have  no  such  feelings — and  yet  he  is  not  only 
not  a  Greek  and  no  connexion  of  the  Greeks,  but  not  even  a 
barbarian  of  any  country  of  which  one  can  speak  with  respect. 
He  is  just  a  pestilential  Macedonian — of  a  country  from  which 
one  never  could  buy  even  a  decent  slave." 

The  following  passage  is,  in  the  original,  a  good  specimen 
of  his  vigour  and  his  pugnacity — and  perhaps  also  of  his 
ingenuity,  for  in  many  of  the  manuscripts  the  word  which  I 
have  translated  by  '  hireHng '  is  in  this  passage  accented  on 
the  first  syllable,  iull(t0(jjto9,  whereas  the  accent  generally  falls 
on  the  last,  and  this  seems  to  confirm  the  truth  of  the 
story  that  Demosthenes  purposely  mispronounced  the  word, 
and  that  the  audience,  far  more  shocked  at  the  false  accent 
than  at  any  iniquity  of  Aeschines,  shouted  out  fjucrOiDTog — 
thus  at  the  same  time  correcting  the  orator's  mispronunciation 
and  answering  his  question  as  he  desired. 

''  As  for  what  then  took  place,  there  is  much  more  that  I 
could  3ay.  But  I  think  I  have  said  enough — ^perhaps  more 
than  enough.  And  it  is  his  fault  if  I  have,  for  he  so  drenched 
me  with  the  dregs  of  his  own  rascality  and  that  of  his  rascally 
conduct  that  I  was  obliged  to  clear  myself  before  those  who 

441 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
are  too  young  to  remember  the  facts.  But  even  before  I  said 
a  word  you  yourselves  were  probably  thoroughly  disgusted — 
those  of  you  who  knew  about  his  hireling  servility.  He, 
forsooth,  calls  it  intimacy  and  friendship,  and  on  some  late 
occasion  spoke  about  my  *  insulting  his  friendship  with  Alex- 
ander/ Where  did  he  get  it  from  ?  How  did  he  earn  it  ? 
I  wouldn't  call  him  a  '  friend  '  either  of  Philip  or  Alexander — 
I'm  not  such  an  idiot — unless  one  ought  to  call  reapers,  or 
others  who  do  anything  for  hire,  the  '  friends  '  of  those  who 
hire  them.  No  !  I  call  you  a  hireling — formerly  of  Philip 
and  now  of  Alexander  ;  and  so  do  all  these  gentlemen.  If 
you  don't  believe  me,  ask  them  ! — or,  rather,  I'll  do  it  for 
you.  .  .  .  Which,  O  Athenians,  do  you  think  Aeschines  to  be — 
Alexander's  friend  or  his  hireling  ?  .  .  .  You  hear  what  they 
say  !  "     {De  Corona,  242.) 

Later  Philosophers 

The  greatest  teachers,  knowing  that  truth,  as  Plato  says, 
"  cannot  be  communicated  like  other  branches  of  learning," 
have  ever  been  more  anxious  to  intimate,  and  to  enforce  by 
word  and  deed,  deep-lying  principles  than  to  formulate  doctrines 
and  build  up  systems.  Of  such  nature  was  the  teaching  of 
Socrates.  He  wrote  nothing,"  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
underlying  principles  that  he  enforced  were  intimated  by  him 
in  a  much  less  systematized  form  than  that  in  which  they  are 
presented  by  Plato.  It  was  therefore  natural  that  his  followers, 
when  they  began  (as  was  inevitable)  to  formulate  and  systema- 
tize, should  split  up  into  various  schools.  The  doctrines  of 
these  diverse  schools  of  post-Socratic  philosophy,  being  in- 
timately connected  with  the  later  philosophy,  that  of  the 
Romans  and  the  early  Christian  ages.  He  beyond  the  scope 
of  this  volume.  I  shall  therefore  only  say  a  few  words  on  the 
subject. 

Besides  Plato,  Socrates'  greatest  disciple,  who,  as  we  have 
seen,  founded  the  Academic  school,  should  be  mentioned 
Kucleides,  Aristippus,  and  Antisthenes,  who  founded  respec- 
tively the  Megaric  (Dialectic),  the  Cyrenaic,  and  the  Cynic 
442 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

schools.  To  the  Cynics  belonged  Diogenes,  and  the  Cynic 
philosophy  led  towards  Stoicism,  which  was  founded  by  Zeno 
of  Cyprus  about  the  same  time  as  Epicurus  of  Samos  was 
proclaiming  his  philosophy  {c.  300). 

Far  more  famous  (at  least  in  mediaeval  and  modern  times) 
than  any  of  these  philosophies  was  that  of  Aristotle  and  his 
followers,  the  so-called  Peripatetics.  Aristotle  was  born  at 
Stageiros  (or  Stageira),  a  town  of  Chalcidice,  which  was 
destroyed  by  Philip,  but  rebuilt,  at  the  philosopher's  request, 
by  Alexander.  In  342  Aristotle  was  invited  by  Philip  to  act  as 
tutor  to  the  young  Alexander,  and  remained  at  Pella  till  335, 
when  he  settled  at  Athens,  and  for  thirteen  years  taught  at 
the  I/yceum.     He  died  in  Euboea  in  322. 

SECTION  B  :    LYSIPPUS  :  HELLENISTIC  SCULPTURE 

Scopas  and  Praxiteles,  as  we  have  seen,  flourished  from 
about  390  to  350.  Towards  the  end  of  this  period  we  hear 
of  lycochares,  who  together  with  Scopas  was  employed  by 
Artemisia  to  supply  sculpture  for  the  Mausoleum.  He  is  of 
interest  also  because  he  was  the  designer  of  the  gold  and  ivory 
images  of  Philip  II  and  his  family  which  were  erected  in  the 
Philippeion,  a  hall  built  at  Olympia  by  the  Macedonian  king. 
Moreover,  the  bust  of  Isocrates  (Fig.  124)  may  be  founded  on 
his  statue  of  the  orator  which  was  erected  at  Kleusis,  and  the 
well-known  group  of  Ganymede  and  an  eagle,  copies  of  which 
are  to  be  seen  in  museums  (the  best  of  them  in  the  Vatican) , 
was  probably  his  work.  Considered  as  a  realistic  production, 
the  latter  offends  by  the  evident  impossibility  that  the  bird 
could  lift  such  a  weight — though  Professor  Gardner  tells  us 
that  "  boy  and  eagle  strain  upward  in  an  aspiration  like  that 
which  Goethe  expresses  in  his  poem  of  Ganymede  " — and 
regarded  as  a  work  of  art,  it  seems  to  fail  entirely  in  satisfying 
one's  imaginative  faculty.  It  is  doubtless  clever,  but  surely 
rather  too  much  of  the  tableau  vivant  type. 

Somewhat  younger  than  Teochares  was  Ivysippus,  whose 
name  one  associates  with  Alexander,  for  it  is  said  that  the 

443 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

monarch  allowed  no  sculptor  but  I^ysippus  and  no  painter 
but    Apelles    to    portray    him  —  that    is,    probably,    other 
artists  were  denied  a  sitting    after    having  once  "  failed  to 
render,"   as  Plutarch  says,   "  his  manly  and  leonine  aspect 
while  trying  to  represent  the  bend  in  his  neck  and  the  emotional 
glance  of  his  eyes/'     I^ysippus  was  of  the  school  of  Sicyon — 
the  athletic  school  of  Polycleitus — ^but  his  ideal  of  the  manly 
form  was  more  Hthe  and  slender  than  that  of  his  predecessor, 
with  a  smaller  head  (an  eighth  instead  of  a  seventh  of  the 
total  height).     It  is  said  that  he  put  a  coin  in  his  money-box 
whenever  he  received  payment  for  a  commission,  and  at  his 
death  1500  coins  were  found  within  it ;  and  yet  until  lately  the 
only  extant  statue  believed  to  be  a  copy  of  a  work  of  his  was 
the  Apoxyomenos  of  the  Vatican  (an  athlete  scraping  himself 
with  a  strigil),  to  which  was  sometimes  added  the  bust  of 
Alexander  found  at  Alexandria  and  now  in  the  British  Museum 
(Fig.  123),  the  best  of  many  such  portraits.     But  the  French 
excavations  at  Delphi  have  brought  to  light  an  exceedingly 
fine  statue  of  the  athlete  Agias,  probably  a  marble  replica  of 
a  bronze  original — a  much  finer  work  of  art  than  the  Apoxyo- 
menos,    The  face,  though  not  highly  intellectual,  is  of  a  far 
nobler  type  than  that  of  any  known  statue  by  Polycleitus 
or  Scopas,  or  than  that  of  the  Praxitelean  Hermes,  and  the 
skill  shown  in  the  splendid  nude  figure  displays  the  great 
artist,  not  merely  the  anatomical  expert. 

I^ysippus  produced  several  works  of  enormous  size,  among 
them  a  colossal  Zeus  at  Tarentum,  sixty  feet  high,  and  a  Sun- 
god  (Helios,  or  Baal)  in  a  four-horse  chariot  at  Rhodes — 
anticipating  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes,  which  was  by  his  pupil, 
Chares — and  a  huge  seated  Heracles,  of  which  he  made  a 
minute  copy  as  a  table  ornament  for  Alexander — a  statuette 
which,  if  we  are  to  believe  Martial,  afterwards  belonged  to 
Hannibal  and  Sulla. 

A  statue  of  Alexander  by  I^ysippus,  described  by  Plutarch, 
represented  him  (somewhat  as  in  the  bust,  Fig.  123)  gazing 
upwards  with  the  head  a  httle  bent  to  the  left  (in  consequence 
of  a  wound),  a  defect,  Plutarch  tells  us,  imitated  by  some  of 
444 


129.  Aphrodite  of  Mei,os 


444 


THE    RISE   OF   MACEDONIA 

his  successors.  The  '  leonine '  face  with  its  overhanging 
mane  of  hair  and  its  '  swimming  '  eyes,  in  whose  depths  passion 
and  madness  seem  to  lurk,  became  a  type  which  long  pervaded 
sculpture,  so  that  not  a  few  extant  works  of  the  later  period 
are  either  evidently  meant  for  portraits  of  Alexander  or 
contain  reminiscences  of  the  type  created  by  I^ysippus  ;  and 
doubtless  Apelles,  whose  famous  picture  of  Alexander  repre- 
sented him  wielding  a  thunderbolt,  helped  to  confirm  this 
type.  A  magnificent  work  of  art  which  is  doubtless  a  product 
of  the  school  of  I^ysippus — ^possibly  even  a  work  of  I^ysippus 
himself,  who  is  known  to  have  made  groups  representing 
Alexander  in  battle  and  hunting  with  his  companions — is  the 
so-called  Alexander  Sarcophagus  (Fig.  130).  It  was  found, 
together  with  others,^  at  Sidon,  and  is  now  in  the  Constanti- 
nople Museum.  On  it  ''we  seem  to  recognize  the  features  of 
more  than  one  Macedonian  warrior  besides  Alexander  himself, 
and  their  peculiar  helmets  and  arms  are  rendered  with  accuracy, 
as  well  as  the  swathings  and  drapery  " — and  the  hraccae  or 
anaxy rides — *'  of  their  Persian  opponents.''  It  is  probably 
the  best  preserved  of  all  monuments  of  antiquity.  The  colours 
with  which  the  marble  was  stained  are  still  plainly  visible. 
"  No  one,"  says  Professor  Gardner,  "  who  has  not  seen  this 
sarcophagus  can  realize  the  effect  produced  by  a  correct  and 
artistic  appHcation  of  colour  to  sculpture." 

Another  product  of  this  period,  and  one  which  illustrates 
the  tendency  towards  bigness  and  theatrical  pose,  is  the  well- 
known  and  often  much-admired  group  of  Niobe  and  her 
children.  The  original  was  brought  to  Rome,  probably  from 
CiHcia,  about  35  B.C.  PHny  describes  it  and  tells  us  that  it  is 
"  doubtful  whether  it  was  by  Praxiteles  or  by  Scopas."  It  is 
most  evidently  by  neither.    Although  free  from  the  contortions 

^  E.g.  the  'Tomb  of  the  Satrap,'  and  the  '  I^ycian  Sarcophagus'  (of  about 
420  perhaps),  with  Attic  influence,  such  as  we  see  in  the  Nereid  Monument 
(p-  385),  and  a  sarcophagus  with  eighteen  most  beautiful  female  figures,  '  the 
Mourners,'  reminding  one  of  Athenian  tombstones.  The  Alexander  Sarcophagus 
is  of  Pentelic  (Attic)  marble.  It  is  not  supposed  to  have  contained  his  body. 
A  sarcophagus  in  the  British  Museum  (brought  from  Alexandria)  has  better 
claims  to  this  honour. 

445 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
of  later  Hellenistic  art,  it  shows  neither  in  its  forms  nor  faces 
nor  drapery  nor  attitudes  the  characteristics  of  the  best  Greek 
sculpture.  The  group  probably  stood,  not  in  the  pediment 
of  a  temple,  but  on  some  rocky  elevation  against  a  background, 
and  possibly  statues  of  the  vengeful  deities,  Apollo  and 
Artemis,  were  placed  on  some  higher  level.  Good  ancient 
copies  of  fourteen  of  these  figures  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Niobe 
Hall  of  the  Ufiizi  at  Florence.  Some  of  them  were  dug  up  at 
Rome  in  1583,  and  may  possibly  be  the  statues  seen  by  Pliny. 

Hellenistic   Sculpture 

It  may  be  useful  to  add  a  few  words  indicating  the  main 
features  of  later  Greek  sculpture. 

After  the  conquests  of  Alexander  Greek  art  died  down  to 
the  root,  though  it  did  not  become  entirely  extinct,  in  the 
mother-country,  but  its  scions,  planted  in  Eastern  soil,  flourished 
exceedingly.  The  religious  characteristic  of  old  Greek  statuary, 
the  main  function  of  which  was  to  produce  images  of  the  gods 
and  heroes,  has  been  to  a  large  extent  lost.  Sculpture  is 
now  used  a  great  deal  for  portraiture,  and  for  personifica- 
tions such  as  of  Wealth  and  Peace  and  Fortune  and  of 
countries  and  cities,^  and  the  tendency  towards  the  colossal, 
already  observed  in  I^ysippus,  becomes  stronger.  This  is 
especially  noticeable  at  the  two  great  centres  of  Hellenistic 
art,  Rhodes  and  Pergamon.  In  Rhodes,  according  to  Pliny, 
more  than  a  hundred  huge  statues  existed,  of  which  the  greatest, 
the  famous  bronzen  Colossus,  made  by  Chares,  was  105  feet 
high.  It  represented  the  Sun-god  (see  coin  13,  Plate  VI). 
The  well-known  groups  of  I^aocoon  and  the  Farnese  Bull 
were  brought  to  Rome  from  Rhodes,  and  are  wonderful 
illustrations,  though  comparatively  small,  of  later  Rhodian 
work,  with  its  Michelangelesque  mastery  over  huge  masses 
of  material  and  its  ostentatious  display  of  anatomical  know- 

^  Europe  and  Asia  are  figured  on  the  little  Arbela  tablet  (given  in  my 
Quintus  Curiius),  and  a  very  beautiful  seated  female  figure  representing  the 
'  City  Antioch,'  by  a  pupil  of  Lysippus,  is  given  in  Gardner's  Handbook. 
In  earlier  art  a  river  was  often  personified  by  a  river-god  (or  bull),  and  a  city 
by  its  tutelary  deity ;  but  that  was  an  essentially  different  method. 

446 


130.  The  '  AiyEXANDER  Sarcophagus 


446 


THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA 

ledge.  In  connexion  with  this  taste  for  the  gigantic  may  be 
mentioned  the  bronze  equestrian  statues  of,  perhaps,  Castor  and 
Pollux  on  Monte  Cavallo  at  Rome,  which  are  evidently  a  Greek 
work  and  of  this  period — although  an  inscription  (of  the  age 
of  Constantine)  attributes  them  to  Pheidias  and  Praxiteles  ! 

The  other  great  Hellenistic  school  of  sculpture  was  the 
Pergamene.  Attains,  the  third  king  of  Pergamon,  the  Troad 
city  which  was  later  the  Hterary  rival  of  Alexandria,  erected 
many  statues  and  groups  to  commemorate  his  victories,  espe- 
cially those  over  the  Gauls  (Galatians),  whom  he  had  forced 
to  settle  down  in  the  province  henceforth  known  as  Galatia. 
Many  of  the  bases  of  these  sculptures  have  been  discovered, 
and  from  the  way  in  which  the  feet  of  the  statues  have  been 
carefully  cut  out  of  the  pedestal  it  is  certain  that  the  figures 
were  carried  away  to  Rome  or  Constantinople.  One  of  these — 
or  possibly  only  a  copy  of  the  original  bronze — is  the  Dying 
Gaul  (in  the  Capitol  at  Rome),  formerly  called  the  Dying 
Gladiator.  Other  sculptures  of  smaller  size,  representing 
battles  of  Greeks  with  Persians,  Athenians  with  Amazons, 
and  Greeks  with  Gauls,  were  placed  by  Attains  on  the  Athe- 
nian Acropolis.  The  son  of  Attains,  Eumenes,  made  Perga- 
mon famous  by  means  of  the  enormous  base  (lOO  feet  square) 
on  which,  surrounded  by  a  colonnade,  stood  the  altar  of  Zeus. 
On  this  altar-base  there  were  friezes  whose  huge  contorted 
figures  represented  the  battle  of  the  Giants  against  Zeus  and 
all  the  di  majores  et  minores  of  the  Greek  Pantheon,  aided  by 
numerous  non-Hellenic  deities  and  by  various  demi-gods, 
each  of  the  great  divinities  attended  by  his  or  her  sacred 
animal — a  "  writhing  mass  of  giants  with  whom  their  divine 
antagonists  are  inextricably  entangled,"  reminding  one  of 
the  horribly  impressive  giant-frescoes  by  Giulio  Romano  in 
the  Mantuan  Palazzo  del  Te.  The  weather-worn  remains  of 
these  Pergamene  sculptures  are  now  at  Berlin. 

Of  the  many  other  extant  statues  that  are  attributed  to  the 
earlier  Hellenistic  age,  or  the  preceding  period,  perhaps  the  finest 
are  the  Aphrodite  of  Melos,  the  Apollo  Belvedere,  and  the  Nike 
of  Samothrace  (Figs.  129, 131).    The  Aphrodite  was  discovered 

447 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

on  the  island  of  Melos  in  a  grotto,  in  which  also  a  fragment  of  a 
pedestal  was  found  bearing  a  few  words  of  an  inscription  that 
contained  the  last  part  of  the  artist's  name,  viz.  '  sander  ' 
or  *  xander,'  and  gave  Antioch  on  the  Maeander  as  his  home. 
The  sculptor  is  unknown,  but  from  the  character  of  the  writing 
the  inscription  was  believed  to  date  from  about  loo.  How- 
ever, it  is  quite  uncertain  whether  this  fragment  ever  belonged 
to  the  pedestal  of  the  statue,  and  it  has  now  disappeared.  To 
judge  from  the  statue  itself  one  cannot  but  believe  that  it  dates 
from  a  much  earlier  period.  "  For  a  conception  of  the  female 
figure  at  once  so  dignified  and  so  beautiful,"  says  Professor 
B.  A.  Gardner,  "  we  have  to  go  back  to  the  sculpture  of  the  Par- 
thenon, and  we  see  the  same  breadth  and  simplicity  of  modelling 
in  the  drapery  as  in  the  nude.  .  .  ,  The  sculptor  who  made  this 
Aphrodite  must  have  lived  in  spirit  in  the  age  of  Pheidias." 

The  Apollo  Belvedere  is  by  some  attributed  to  lycochares, 
merely  by  reason  of  some  supposed  similarity  (perhaps  in 
technique)  to  the  Ganymede.  This  attribution  I  find  quite 
impossible  to  accept.  Modern  criticism  has  rightly  pointed 
out  that  the  Apollo  shows  what  might  be  called  a  degradation 
of  Praxitelean  grace  and  a  loss  of  masculine  vigour.  The 
attitude  is  somewhat  theatrical,  and  the  modelling  of  the  nude 
is  smoothed  away  so  much  and  the  limbs  are  made  so  slender 
that  we  have  an  almost  painful  idealism  and  unreality.  But 
in  spite  of  all  this  it  remains  unquestionably  one  of  the  most 
magically  beautiful  of  all  Greek  statues,  although  only  a  marble 
copy  of  a  bronze  original. 

The  Victory  (Nike)  was  discovered  on  the  island  of  Samo- 
thrace,  and  is  now  (headless,  alas  !  and  armless)  in  the  I^ouvre. 
The  trophy  was  erected  by  Demetrius  PoHorcetes  to  commemo- 
rate a  naval  victory  won  in  306.  The  goddess — a  magnificent 
figure  with  wind-swept  draperies  like  the  Nike  of  Paeonius,  but 
more  stately — stands  on  the  marble  prow  of  a  warship  with 
her  wings  outspread,  reminding  one  of  the  vision  of  Dante 
on  the  shore  of  the  Purgatorial  Mount — the  angel  standing 
on  the  vessel  with  his  snow-white  wings  outspread  as  sails, 

Trattando  I'aere  con  I'eterne  penne. 

448 


131.  The  Nike  of  Samothrack 


448 


NOTE   A 
GREEK  TEMPLES 

IN  order  to  avoid  the  distraction  that  would  be  caused  by 
frequently  interrupting  the  narrative,  or  by  dealing  with 
the  subject  in  several  widely  separated  Sections,  I  have  rele- 
gated to  this  Note  a  few  details  concerning  the  chief  Greek 
temples  of  different  ages.  The  chronology  is,  of  course, 
not  always  certain.  The  Index  and  lyist  of  Illustrations 
should  be  consulted.  Pictures  are  given  of  thirteen  of  these 
temples. 

(i)  The  Heraion  (Temple  of  Hera),  at  Olympia.  Doric : 
6  X  i6.  Built  perhaps  c.  900.  The  stone  foundations 
(probably  the  most  ancient  relic  of  a  Greek  temple  extant) 
were  originally  surmounted  by  walls  of  sunburnt  brick  and 
wooden  pillars.  Stone  columns  were  gradually  substituted, 
which  accounts  for  the  fact  that,  to  judge  from  the  remains 
of  thirty-six  of  the  columns  and  of  twenty  capitals,  they  were 
almost  all  different.  Pausanias  saw  one  old  wooden  pillar 
still  remaining.  Nothing  has  been  found  of  an  entablature, 
frieze,  &c.  The  Hermes  of  Praxiteles  was  found  in  this  temple, 
buried  in  the  clay  of  the  sunburnt  bricks. 

(2)  Temple  of  Apollo,  Corinth.  Doric  :  6  x  15.  Probably 
built  by  Periander,  c.  600.  Seven  monolith  columns  of  rough 
limestone,  originally  overlaid  with  yellowish  stucco,  still 
stand  and  bear  a  part  of  the  architrave.  They  are  finely  pro- 
filed, with  a  noticeable  entasis,  but  are  shorter  than  usual  in 
proportion  to  the  thickness,  the  height  (23 J  feet)  being  only 
7f  modules  (semi-diameters),  and  the  capitals  are  remarkably 
'massive. 

2  F  449 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

(3)  Temple  of  Apollo,  Delphi.  Built  to  replace  the 
ancient  temple,  burnt  down  in  548.  The  architect  was 
Spintheros  of  Corinth.  A  fourth  of  the  expense  was  to  be 
borne  by  the  Treasury  of  Delphi,  and  the  rest  was  raised  by 
subscription  through  all  Hellas  (even  Amasis  of  Egypt  con- 
tributed). But  the  Alcmaeonidae  undertook  the  construction 
(thus  probably  saving  the  Treasury  much  expense),  and 
carried  it  out  in  a  more  splendid  manner  than  was  stipulated 
in  the  contract,  using  Parian  marble  in  many  parts  instead  of 
poros  or  tufa.  The  remains  show  that  the  columns  were  of 
white  tufa  coated  with  stucco,  and  that  the  outer  colonnades 
were  Doric  and  the  inner  Ionic.  The  pediments  contained 
figures  of  Apollo  and  other  deities  and  the  nine  Muses.  To 
the  architrave  were  attached  golden  shields,  offerings  of  the 
Athenians  after  the  battle  of  Marathon.  In  the  vestibule 
were  engraved  the  sayings  of  the  Seven  Sages — e.g.  "  Know 
thyself,"  &c. 

(4)  Temple  of  Athene  (or  Aphaia),  Aegina,  in  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  the  island.  Doric  :  6  x  12.  Built  perhaps 
before  500.  The  pediment  sculptures  were  erected  probably 
soon  after  the  battle  of  Salamis.  Twenty- two  columns  are 
still  standing,  bearing  the  entablature.  They  are  of  yellow 
limestone  covered  with  stucco.  The  sculptures  of  the  pedi- 
ments were  discovered  in  181 1,  and  bought  by  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Bavaria.  They  were  restored  and  reconstructed 
by  Thorwaldsen,  the  great  Danish  sculptor,  and  are  preserved 
in  the  Glyptothek  at  Munich.  An  inscription  excavated  in 
1901  seems  to  show  that  the  temple  was  sacred  to  Aphaia,  a 
''  local  goddess  with  affinities  to  Artemis.'* 

(5)  Temples  at  Selinus  and  Acragas  (Sicily).  The  remains 
of  seven  ancient  Doric  colonnaded  temples,  some  of  great 
size,  built  probably  soon  after  the  foundation  of  the  city, 
c.  628,  are  to  be  seen  at  Selinus,  in  South-western  Sicily, 
where  a  wilderness  of  enormous  ruins  covers  the  acropolis  and 
an  adjacent  hill.  The  greatest  of  these  temples,  called  the 
Apollonion,  was  almost  as  large  as  the  huge  Olympieion  at 
Acragas,  and  was,  similarly,  not  finished  when  the  city  was 
4S0 


GREEK    TEMPLES 

taken  by  the  Carthaginians  in  409.  Some  of  the  still  unfinished 
column  drums  are  to  be  seen  in  a  quarry  three  miles  distant. 
The  most  ancient  of  the  SeHnus  temples  had  the  unusual 
proportions  6  x  17.  Many  of  its  huge  columns  are  lying  in 
a  row  side  by  side,  just  as  they  fell  when  a  great  earthquake 
(it  is  not  known  when)  overthrew  all  the  temples  of  Selinus 
and  some  at  Acragas.  Some  very  ancient  metopes  from  the 
frieze  of  this  temple  are  preserved  at  Palermo. 

At  Acragas  (lyat.  Agrigentum,  Ital.  Girgenti)  many  splendid 
temples  were  erected  by  Thero  after  the  victory  over  the 
Carthaginians  at  Himera  in  480.  A  portion  of  the  still  older 
Athene  temple  is  yet  to  be  seen  forming  a  part  of  a  church 
inside  the  city,  but  the  temples  erected  by  Thero  lined  the 
south  city  wall,  and  from  their  lofty  plateau  overlooked  the 
sea.  Of  these  the  unfinished  Olympieion  was  the  greatest 
Greek  temple  in  existence,  as  its  widespread  ruins  testify.  The 
magnificent '  Concordia '  temple  (Doric  :  6  x  13)  is  one  of  the 
finest  and  most  perfect  Greek  temples  extant  (Fig.  76),  and  the 
so-called  temple  of  I^acinian  Hera  (also  6  x  13),  of  which  many 
columns  still  stand  on  an  elevated  site,  is  one  of  the  most 
impressive  of  all  ruins.  The  name  *  Concordia '  is  due  to  a  I^atin 
inscription  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  temple,  and  the 
'  lyacinian '  temple  got  its  name  from  a  mistake  made  by  Pliny, 
who  states  that  Zeuxis  painted  for  Agrigentum  a  picture  of 
Helen  of  Troy,  whereas  it  was  painted  for  the  temple  of  Hera  on 
the  I/acinian  promontory  (see  paragraph  11  of  this  Note). 

(6)  Temple  of  Apollo  at  Didyma  (now  Hieronda),  near 
Miletus,  called  the  Temple  of  the  Branchidae,  who  were  the 
priestly  family  in  charge.  It  was  famed  for  its  antiquity  and 
wealth  and  for  its  oracle.  The  original  temple  perhaps  dated 
from  the  early  days  of  Ionian  migration  (say  about  1000).  In 
603,  before  the  battle  of  Carchemish,  Pharaoh  Necho  presented 
his  cuirass  to  the  temple.  Also  Croesus  made  costly  golden 
offerings  (Hdt.  i.  92) .  The  building  was  plundered  and  burnt  by 
the  Persians  after  the  capture  of  Miletus  in  494  (possibly  without 
the  consent  of  Darius,  who,  as  a  letter  of  his  to  the  satrap  of 
Ionia  proves,  felt  great  reverence  for  this  oracle  of  Apollo). 

451 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
The  Branchidae  were  accused  of  having  surrendered  the  temple 
and  treasure,  and  to  save  them  from  the  vengeance  of  the 
lonians  Xerxes  tiransplanted  them  to  Sogdiana  (Turkestan), 
not  far  from  I^ake  Aral,  where  they  founded  a  Greek  town, 
some  2000  miles  distant  from  Miletus.  But  about  170  years  later 
Alexander,  when  greeted  on  his  victorious  campaign  by  this 
httle  Greek  colony,  revived  the  accusation  and  massacred  every 
man,  woman,  and  child — one  of  the  foulest  deeds  that  his 
insanity  perpetrated.  The  Branchidae  temple  was  rebuilt  in 
the  age  of  Alexander,  and  probably  by  his  orders,  and  was  said 
to  be  the  greatest  Greek  temple  in  Asia  Minor — so  great  that 
it  could  not  be  roofed  !  Some  of  the  magnificent  Ionic 
columns  are  still  standing,  buried  to  a  third  of  their  height, 
which  is  said  to  be  60  feet. 

But  by  far  the  most  ancient  relics  of  Didyma  are  some  of 
the  great  seated  figures  which  lined  the  '  sacred  way  *  from  the 
temple  to  the  sea  (about  two  miles).  These  date  from  about 
550.  Several  are  in  the  British  Museum  (see  Fig.  58,  and 
Hdt.  i.  92,  157,  v.  36,  vi.  19). 

(7)  Temple  of  Artemis,  Ephesus — about  a  mile  north-east 
from  the  ancient  city.  The  first  temple  was  burnt  by  the 
Cimmerians  about  678.  The  second,  which  during  the  siege  of 
Ephesus  by  Croesus  was  attached  to  the  city  by  a  rope  (p.  182), 
was  finished  during  his  reign  and  received  many  gifts  from  him, 
including  the  sculptured  drums  of  some  of  the  columns,  one 
of  which  is  in  the  British  Museum  (Fig.  52).  The  huge  Ionic 
front  columns  rested,  it  is  thought,  on  great  square  blocks 
which  brought  their  shaft  bases  on  a  level  with  the  floor  of 
the  temple,  and  these  blocks,  as  well  as  the  lowest  drums 
of  the  columns,  were  decorated  with  bas-rehefs.  This  second 
temple — the  only  Greek  temple  spared  by  Xerxes — was  burnt 
down  (by  Herostratus — merely,  it  is  said,  in  order  to  perpetuate 
his  name  !)  on  the  very  night  when  Alexander  the  Great  was 
bom  (356) .  The  third  was  begun  at  once  and  finished  about  300. 
Alexander  offered  (c.  334)  to  bear  the  whole  expense  if  he  were 
allowed  to  have  the  fact  recorded  by  an  inscription ;  but  his  offer 
was  declined  with  the  rather  clever  excuse  that  "  it  was  not  meet 
452 


GREEK   TEMPLES 

for  one  deity  to  build  a  temple  to  another."  (No  such  scruples 
seem  to  have  deterred  Croesus  !)  This  third  Kphesian  temple 
was  a  copy  of  the  second  (see  sculptured  drum,  Fig.  119),  but  on 
a  more  magnificent  scale,  and  was  the  largest  temple  of  the 
Greek  world.  It  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  Seven  Wonders,  and 
continued  in  use  (see  Acts  xix.)  till  the  abolition  of  paganism. 

(8)  Temple  of  Apollo  at  Phigaleia,  or  Bassae  ('  The  Ravines,'  a 
village  near  Phigaleia,  in  Arcadia),  stands  on  a  fine  site  among 
mountainous  solitudes.  It  was  probably  built  to  enclose  an 
ancient  shrine  of  Apollo  Epikouros  ('the  Helper'),  and  was, 
says  Pausanias,  erected  in  hope  of  averting  the  Great  Plague 
of  430 — and  seemingly  not  in.  vain,  for  Thucydides  says  the 
disease  did  not  spread  to  the  Peloponnese.  The  architect  was 
Ictinus,  who  built  the  Parthenon.  It  is  Doric,  6  x  15,  but  the 
inner  temple  had  ten  Ionic  and  one  Corinthian  column  (now 
lost) .  What  is  unusual,  it  faces  north  and  south ;  but  the 
inmost  shrine  (probably  the  ancient  sanctuary  around  which  the 
temple  was  built)  had  its  door  to  the  east,  so  that  the  image 
of  the  god  faced  the  rising  sun.  The  great  bronze  statue  of 
Apollo  was  taken  by  Megalopolis.  It  was  replaced  by  a  marble 
statue,  of  which  fragments,  as  well  as  twenty-three  tablets  of 
the  frieze,  are  in  the  British  Museum.  In  spite  of  earthquakes 
about  thirty  of  the  thirty-eight  external  columns  are  standing. 

(9)  The  Temple  of  Segesta.  The  SiciHan  city  of  Segesta 
(Greek  Kgesta)  was  situate  in  the  mountainous  north-west 
coast  of  Sicily.  It  was  originally  the  chief  city  of  the  Sicihan 
Klymi  (see  p.  118),  who  had  a  town  and  a  great  temple  on  Mount 
Kryx,  a  promontory  some  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  dedicated 
to  Aphrodite  (or  rather  to  Astarte,  the  Phoenician  goddess). 
But  Greek  influence  afterwards  prevailed,  as  is  testified  by  a 
magnificent  Doric  temple  that  now  stands  in  majestic  solitude 
among  the  hills,  not  far  from  the  ancient  site  of  Kgesta.  Its 
columns  are  of  rough  stone  without  flutings,  and  the  fact  that 
they  were  never  finished  gives  us  a  clue  to  the  date  of  the  temple. 
The  cessation  of  the  work  was  probably  due  to  the  troubles 
caused  (about  410)  by  the  quarrel  between  Segesta  and  Sehnus, 
which  ended  in  Segesta  calHng  on  Carthage  for  aid  and  in  the 

4S3 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

destruction  of  Selinus  and  the  establishment  of  Carthaginian 
supremacy  in  Western  Sicily. 

(10)  The  Temples  at  Paestum,  in  Southern  Italy.  Posei- 
donia,  called  Paestum  by  the  Romans,  was  a  colony  of  Sybaris, 
founded  c.  524.  Of  its  three  Doric  temples  that  of  Poseidon 
(6  X  14,  built  about  450)  is  by  far  the  finest,  rivalling  the 
Parthenon  and  the  *  Concordia '  in  its  splendid  proportions. 
The  so-called  'Basilica'  is  unusually  broad  (9  x  18).  It  is 
perhaps  more  ancient,  but  the  architecture  is  not  so  perfect. 
It  was  divided  down  the  middle  by  columns,  the  two  portions 
having  probably  been  sacred  to  different  deities.  The 
temple  of  Demeter,  as  it  is  called,  is  less  massive  than  the 
Poseidon  temple,  and  the  columns  have  an  exaggerated  entasis, 
but  it  is  a  splendid  ruin. 

(11)  Temple  of  Hera  Lacinia,  near  Croton.  One  solitary 
column  (Fig.  40)  remains  of  this  great  Doric  temple,  built 
probably  about  480-450  to  replace  the  ancient  temple  which 
was  for  centuries  the  first  landmark  that  greeted  the  Greek 
on  his  way  to  the  far  West.  Here  he  generally  landed  and 
made  sacrifice.  The  marble-roofed  temple  was  surrounded  by 
pine-groves  where  were  erected  statues  of  Olympic  victors.  It 
was  the  assembly-place  of  the  Greeks  of  Greater  Hellas,  and 
festivals  were  celebrated  here,  with  athletic  games.  It  possessed 
great  riches — amongst  other  things  a  pillar  of  gold  and  a  picture 
of  Helen  by  Zeuxis.  Hannibal  here  slaughtered  2000  Italian 
mercenaries  and  put  up  a  brass  tablet  (used  by  Polybius)  to 
recount  his  victories.  In  a.d.  1600  the  temple  was  still  almost 
intact,  but  was  demolished  by  a  bishop,  I^ucifero  by  name. 
Two  columns  were  left.  One  was  overthrown  by  earthquake 
in  1638. 

(12)  Temple  of  Hera  at  Samos.  Of  this,  the  greatest 
Greek  temple  known  to  Herodotus,  only  one  Ionic  column 
remains.  It  stands  not  far  from  the  sea-shore  about  four 
miles  from  the  ancient  city  of  Samos.  The  temple  was  finished 
by  Polycrates  and  burnt  by  the  Persians,  but  rebuilt  in  the 
time  of  Herodotus. 

(13)  The  Parthenon   is   regarded    as   the    ideal    of    Doric 

454 


132.  Tempi^e  of  Athene  Nike 


--^ 


133.  Krechtheion 


434 


GREEK   TEMPLES 

architecture.    For  details  as  to  its  proportions,  its  sculptures, 
&c. ,  see  Chapter  IV,  Section  B,  and  Chapter  VI,  Section  A. 

(14)  The  Erechtheion  is  in  a  depression  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Acropolis  plateau.  It  stood  incomplete  for  many  years 
and  was  finished  (as  proved  by  an  inscription  in  the  British 
Museum)  c.  409.  It  is  considered  a  model  of  Ionic  style,  but 
is  of  very  unusual  form,  being  as  different  from  the  ordinary 
Greek  temple  as  San  Vitale  is  from  the  ordinary  Christian 
basiUca.  It  is  only  about  66  feet  long,  and  has  two  side  porches, 
as  well  as  the  eastern  portico.  The  southern  of  these  porches 
is  that  of  the  '  Maidens '  or  Caryatides  (one  of  these  Maidens 
is  of  terra-cotta,  the  original  being  in  the  British  Museum). 
The  unusual  form  of  the  building  was  evidently  occasioned  by 
the  fact  that  it  included  several  distinct  old  Ionian  (Athenian) 
shrines — that  of  Krechtheus  and  that  of  Athene  Pohas  and 
perhaps  others.  Krechtheus,  the  old  Athenian  snake-hero-god, 
was  identified  with  Poseidon,  and  in  early  times  shared  with 
Athene  the  '  house  of  Krechtheus  '  (mentioned  by  Homer) .  The 
lair  of  his  snake,  and  the  hole  made  by  Poseidon's  trident  in 
the  rock,  and  the  olive  planted  by  Athene,  were  all  shown 
in  the  old  Krechtheion,  which  was  burnt  by  the  Persians  in 
480.  Athene's  olive  thereupon  put  out  a  long  new  shoot 
within  two  days,  and  the  new  temple  was  promptly  taken  in 
hand.  The  question  of  the  old  site  is  puzzling,  for  between 
the  Parthenon  and  the  Krechtheion,  and  almost  contiguous 
to  it,  have  been  discovered  the  foundations  of  the  ancient 
temple  of  Athene  Polias  (the  '  Hecatompedos,'  the  '  hundred- 
foot  '  temple,  built,  or  more  probably  turned  into  a  Doric 
temple,  by  Peisistratus) .  If,  as  some  assert,  this  old  temple 
was  rebuilt  on  the  same  site  after  the  Persian  invasion  the 
Caryatid  porch  could  not  have  been  erected  without  making 
a  breach  in  the  wall  of  the  new  building,  and  thus  utterly 
ruining  the  view  of  the  porch  and  forming  a  most  ugly  and 
ridiculous  complex.  It  is  easier  to  believe  that  the  Krech- 
theion replaced  this  old  temple  (whose  site  was  left  unused), 
and  that  it  also  included  the  ancient  shrines  in  the  precinct. 

(15)  The  Theseion,  the  best  preserved  of  all  ancient  Greek 

4SS 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
temples,  stands  on  an  elevation  north-west  of  the  Acropolis. 
It  is  smaller  than  the  Parthenon  {i.e.  6  x  13),  and  the  columns 
of  PenteHc  marble  are  somewhat  slenderer.  The  sculptures 
of  the  pediments  have  entirely  disappeared.  Only  the  metopes 
on  the  east  front,  and  four  of  the  adjoining  fields  on  each  side, 
were  sculptured.  These  eighteen  reliefs  represent  the  labours 
of  Heracles  and  of  Theseus,  and  the  frieze  of  the  sanctuary 
(which,  as  in  the  Parthenon,  is  continuous,  like  an  Ionic 
frieze)  depicts  the  contest  of  Centaurs  and  I^apithae,  in  which 
Theseus  had  a  part.  It  seems,  therefore,  very  probable  that  the 
temple  is,  as  till  lately  has  been  universally  beheved,  the 
building  in  which  Cimon  deposited  the  bones  of  Theseus. 
But  because  Pausanias  seems  to  ignore  it  and  speaks  of  a 
temple  of  Hephaestus,  and  because  the  architecture  seems  to 
be  as  late  as  that  of  the  Parthenon,  some  writers  have 
asserted  that  it  cannot  be  Cimon's  *  Theseion.' 

(16)  The  Olympieion  at  Athens  was  begun  (about  530)  by 
Peisistratus  (Thuc.  ii.  15).  This  original  temple  was  Doric. 
It  was  planned  on  such  a  vast  scale  that  at  the  height  of  her 
power  Athens  never  ventured  to  complete  it.  Aristotle  mentions 
it  as  a  "  work  of  despotic  grandeur."  In  the  year  174  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  king  of  Syria,  undertook  to  finish  it.  The  fifteen 
huge  Corinthian  columns  still  standing  (56 J  feet  high)  may  date 
from  this  period.  Sulla  (85  B.C.)  when  he  plundered  Athens 
carried  off  some  of  the  smaller  (Doric  ?)  columns.  Augustus 
forwarded  the  work  (described  by  Ivivy  as  the  "  only  temple  on 
earth  worthy  of  the  greatness  of  the  god  "),  but  it  was  not 
finished  until  the  reign  of  Hadrian  (a.d.  120).  It  had  100 
columns  and  was  353 J  feet  in  length. 

(17)  Temple  of  Zeus  at  Olympia.  Built  c.  470  by  the 
people  of  Elis  from  the  spoils  of  Pisa,  which  they  had  destroyed 
a  century  before  (c.  572,  when  they  finally  won  from  the  Pisatans 
the  supremacy  in  the  games).  It  was  a  Doric  temple  (6  x  13), 
210  feet  long,  with  a  sanctuary,  aisled  by  two  rows  of  columns, 
containing  the  famous  statue  by  Pheidias  of  Zeus  Olympios. 
Many  of  the  columns  and  some  capitals  are  still  to  be  seen, 
lying  where  they  fell  when  overthrown  by  earthquake.  For 
456 


o 
Pi 
a 
<1 

w 
w 

H 


GREEK    TEMPLES 

the  sculptures  of  pediments  and  the  statue  of  Zeus,  &c.,  see 
Chapter  VI,  Section  A. 

(i8)  Temple  of  Athene  on  Sunion.  Cape  Sunion  (I^at. 
Simium),  now  Cape  Colonna,  is  the  steep  promontory,  about  200 
feet  high,  in  which  Attica  terminates.  The  earhest  temple  on 
'  sacred  Sunion,'  as  Homer  calls  it,  was  dedicated  to  Poseidon 
(at  least  Aristophanes  calls  Poseidon  "  the  god  invoked  on 
Sunion  "),  but,  as  at  Athens,  the  sea-god  was  forced  to  share  his 
shrine  with  Athene  (or  possibly  to  allow  his  shrine  to  be  over- 
shadowed by  her  larger  temple).  Eleven  Doric  columns  of 
Laurion  marble  still  stand.  The  temple  was  like  the  Theseion, 
but  somewhat  smaller,  and  was  built  about  the  same  time. 
Some  very  weather-worn  sculptured  metopes  possibly  once 
depicted  the  feats  of  Theseus. 

(19)  Temple  of  Athene  Nike  [i.e.  Athene  in  her  character 
as  Victory),  sometimes  wrongly  called  the  temple  of  '  Wingless 
Victory,'  is  a  small  early  Ionic  shrine  (only  27  x  18  feet) 
of  Pentelic  marble,  with  a  portico  of  four  columns  at  each  end. 
It  was  built  on  an  elevated  platform  of  rock  to  the  right  of 
the  Propylaea,  as  one  ascends,  probably  after  the  original 
great  plan  of  the  Propylaea  had  been  given  up  [i.e.  during  the 
Peloponnesian  War,  c.  425) .  In  1684  i^  was  entirely  demolished 
by  the  Turks,  who  used  the  material  to  build  a  bastion.  In 
1835  the  fragments  were  carefully  collected  and  the  shrine  was 
reconstructed. 


4S7 


NOTE   B 
DRESS 

TO  follow  with  any  certainty,  after  the  lapse  of 
millenniums,  the  ever-varying  fashions  of  dress  is 
impossible.  The  differences  that  prevail  on  the  subject  among 
antiquarians  are  mainly  due  to  the  fact  that  fashions  are  apt 
to  change  very  rapidly,  to  revert  to  old  types,  to  develop 
new  combinations,  and  to  exist  simultaneously,  even  in  close 
contact.  But  some  well-marked  characteristics  are  noticeable 
at  certain  periods  of  Greek  history. 

(i)  In  Minoan  and  '  Mycenaean  '  civiHzation,  to  judge  from 
pictorial  evidence  (Figs.  5,  10,  16,  &c.),  the  men  when  at 
war  generally  wore  nothing  at  all,  and  at  other  times  often  only 
a  sort  of  bathing-drawers  garment,  and  footgear  curiously 
like  our  *  puttees.'  Their  hair  was  often  built  up  into  a  high 
coiffure  with  long  pigtails,  and  in  many  paintings  they  have 
extraordinarily  slender  waists,  as  if  they  laced  tightly;  or 
perhaps  they  gained  their  slimness  by  such  gymnastic  train- 
ing as  was  necessary  for  the  Cretan  matadors  (Fig.  17). 
The  women  had  strangely  modern-looking  costumes — heavy, 
deeply  flounced,  embroidered  skirts,  and  (when  the  bust  was 
not  nude)  puff-sleeved  jackets  or  blouses  (often  very  decoUeUes). 
The  hair  was  elaborately  coiled  and  curled. 

(2)  In  Homer  we  find  quite  a  different  dress,  which  we  may 
call  Achaean,  evidently  of  northern  origin.  It  differs  essen- 
tially from  the  Minoan  and  Mycenaean  composite  sewn  dress, 
and  consists  (with  the  possible  exception  of  the  linen  under- 
garment) of  a  single  piece  of  cloth,  or  lighter  stuff,  fastened 
by  brooches,  or  safety-pins  {fibulae,  Trepovai),  which  were  not 
required,  except  for  ornament,  in  the  older  sewn  garments. 
458 


DRESS 

Homer's  men  wear  a  chiton  (an  under-garment,  sometimes  of 
thicker  coloured  stuff,  sometimes  "  soft  and  shiny  as  the  skin 
of  a  dried  onion")   and  either  a  kind  of  mantle  called  the 
pharos  (*  thin/  '  silver-white/  '  purple/  '  great ')  or  a  warmer 
cloak,  the  chlaina  ('  woollen,'  '  shaggy/  '  purple  '),  which  was 
also  used  at  night  as  a  blanket.    The  chlaina  was  fastened  in 
front  by  a  brooch,  as  we  see  from  the  celebrated  passage  in 
which  the  golden  brooch  of  Odysseus  is  described  {Od,  xix.  225). 
The  women  have  the  chiton  and  the  pharos  ('  light,'  *  silver- 
white' — Od.  V.  230),  or  else  the  warmer  peplos,  a  long  robe 
fastened  with  brooches.      (A  peplos  with  twelve  brooches  is 
mentioned    in   Od.   xviii.    293.)    The  brooch,   or  safety-pin, 
was  perhaps  introduced  by  the  northern  (Achaean  and  Dorian) 
invaders,  and  was  of  course  necessary  for  unsewn  garments. 
On  the  head  women  in  Homer  sometimes  wore  the  Kpy^e/uLvov, 
3L  kind  of  scarf  or  short  veil  (but  long  enough  to  be  tied  round 
Odysseus'  body — Od.  v.  346),  or  a   *  covering '  (KaXv-Trrpri),  a 
head-dress  often  richly  ornamented  (Hesiod  calls  it  'daedal '). 
(3)  In  the  Asia  Minor  colonies  the  long  hnen  chiton  and 
ample  over-garment  were    retained   by    the    '  chiton-trailing 
lonians,'  as  Homer  calls  them,  but  the  Dorians  (say  about 
iioo-iooo)   seem  to  have  introduced  into  the  Peloponnese 
and  Doric  colonies  a  simpler  northern  style  of  dress  for  both 
sexes,  viz.  a  single  square  woollen  raiment,  which  took  the 
place  of  both  the  Hnen  chiton  and  the  over-garment.     This 
*  Doric  chiton  '  was  sleeveless  and  simply  wrapped  round  the 
body  horizontally  under  the  armpits  and  fastened,  either  with 
or  without  flaps,  over  both  shoulders  by  long  dagger-like  pins. 
It  was  left  open  at  one  side  (even  in  the  case  of  women  at 
Sparta),  or  sometimes  fastened  with  brooches  (safety-pins), 
or  confined  with  a  girdle.    The  Doric  fashion  does  not  seem 
to  have  found  favour  at  Athens  for  some  time,  since  the 
ancient  Mycenaean  cut-out  and  sewn  dress  is  still  depicted 
on  Attic  (Dipylon)  pottery  of  the  Dark  Age  ;    and  also  in 
Hesiod's  Boeotia  the  female  dress  with  protruding  '  bustle  ' 
still  prevailed  (p.  107).   Doubtless  the  anti-Spartan  sentiments 
of  the  Athenian  women  were  more  incHned  to  perpetuate  the 

4S9 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

old  Aegaean  or  Ionian  fasliions  or  to  introduce  the  luxurious 
style  from  the  Ionian  colonies — against  which,  it  is  said,  Solon 
had  to  legislate — than  to  adopt  the  new  and  simpler  Doric 
chiton.  But  even  before  Solon's  age,  probably  about  750  or 
700,  a  Doric-like  chiton  with  shoulder-flaps  and  dagger-pins 
(or  is  it  a  cut-out  and  sewn  bodice  ?),  combined  with  a  richly 
ornamented  skirt  of  the  Minoan  style,  seems  to  have  been  in 


139.  Figures  from  a  Toii,et-box  in  the  British  Museum 

vogue  at  Athens,  as  is  proved  by  the  very  fashionably  dressed 
dames  on  the  Fran9ois  Vase  (Fig.  140). 

^(4)  About  568  the  tragic  event  took  place  (see  p.  142)  which 
forcibly  and  suddenly  changed  the  fashion  in  Athens.  The 
women  were  commanded  to  give  up  their  long,  dangerous 
stiletto-pins  and  to  adopt  the  long,  soft,  and  generally  crimpled 
Ionian  Hnen  chiton,  stitched  or  buttoned,  or  fastened  with 
quite  small  safety-pin  brooches,  over  the  shoulder  and  down 
the  upper  arm.  Above  this  was  worn  a  wrap  or  shawl  (himation, 
lyat.  pallium),  which  at  first  was  small  and  oblique,  fastened 
over  one  shoulder  and  under  the  other  armpit  (as  in  Fig.  37). 
In  course  of  time  this  outer  garment  becomes  much 
larger  and  more  elaborately  folded  and  decorated  (hke  the 
Roman  toga  or  the  palla).  In  '  classical '  statuary  we  have 
460 


i 


^  'M^MM, 


135.  Caryatid  from  Erech- 

THEION 


136.  Monument  of  IvYSicrates 


137.  Bronze  and  Shaver 
Dress-pins 


138.  Ionic  Chiton  and 

Himation  460 


■ 

I 


DRESS 

generally  the  long  Ionic  chiton  in  the  case  of  women,  and  a 
shorter  tunic  for  men,  and  for  both  sexes  a  voluminous  outer 
garment,  coarser  and  heavier  in  the  case  of  men  (see  Figs.  98, 
107,  &c.),  as  well  as  the  smaller  chlamys,  a  scarf  or  cape  that 
sometimes  takes  the  place  of  the  heavier  woollen  himation, 
and  sometimes  is  carried  loosely  on  the  arm  or  shoulder. 

(5)  It  should,  however,  be  noticed  that  after  the  Athenian 
women  were  thus  forced  to  adopt  the  Ionian 
dress  {c.  568)  the  new  and  more  effeminate 
Eastern  chiton  seems  to  have  prevailed  for  a 
time  also  among  the  men,  but  only  for  a  time. 
Thucydides  tells  us  (i.  6)  that  "  the  Athenians 
were  the  first  who  gave  up  wearing  iron  [military 
garb]  and  changed  to  greater  luxury.  And  the 
elders  among  the  rich  classes  not  long  ago  ceased 
wearing  linen  chitons  and  binding  up  the  coil  of 
the  hair  on  their  heads  with  a  fastening  of 
golden  cicalas."  Now  "  not  long  ago  ''  would 
mean  about  the  time  of  the  Persian  wars, 
and  it  seems  that  then  or  a  little  later  the 
Athenian  men  reverted  to  the  simpler  and  (in 
war)  more  convenient  woollen  Doric  chiton,  or 
to  a  short  shirt-like  linen  chiton  with  a  square 
woollen  himation,  which  was  the  male  dress 
during  the  Peloponnesian  War. 

I^astly,  it  should  be  remembered  that  this  change  to  simpler 
Doric,  or  northern,  habits  which  is  mentioned  by  Thucydides 
meant  also  the  rejection  of  the  loin-cloth  of  the  older  Aegaean 
and  Ionian  civiHzation,  and  the  adoption  in  athletics,  as  also 
to  a  great  extent  in  war,  of  nudity  (except  for  armour  and 
tunics),  a  matter  in  which,  curiously  enough,  the  Greek  con- 
sidered himself  far  in  advance  of  the  Oriental,  who  regarded 
nudity  as  shameful. 


140.    Figure 

FROM     THE 

Francois 
Vase 


461 


NOTE   C 
COINS 

COINS  are  believed  to  have  been  first  made  in  I^ydia,  where 
the  Mermnadae  kings  began,  c.  700,  to  punch  ingots  of 
electron  (an  alloy  of  gold  and  silver)  with  official  marks  (see  I,  i) 
as  assurance  of  full  weight.  The  Greek  Asiatic  cities  soon 
adopted  the  invention  and  used  engraved  dies,  and  the  lower 
side  (obverse)  of  the  coin  was  adorned  with  the  badge  of  the 
state  or  city  (often  an  animal)  or  a  tutelary  deity  or  his  symbol 
(see  I,  2,  3,  4,  where  Kl.  =  electron).  Croesus  probably  first 
used  gold  and  silver  coins  (staters)  instead  of  electron,  and 
Darius  adopted  the  practice  in  his  gold  daric  and  silver  siglos 
(shekel).  Pheidon,  the  Argive  king,  is  said  to  have  first  intro- 
duced standard  weights  and  measures  into  Greece,  and  the 
first  European  coins  were  probably  struck  in  Aegina  (see  I, 
15).  Archaic  coins  are  frequently  bean-shaped.  In  the  earliest 
specimens  the  reverse  generally  bears  only  an  official  mark, 
or  incuse  square  (I,  6),  but  later  both  sides  bore  a  type.  Before 
about  500  the  eye  of  the  profiled  human  face  is  represented 
(as  in  some  old  reliefs)  as  if  fronting  one,  and  the  hair  consists 
of  small  dots  and  the  mouth  has  the  '  archaic  smile '  (I,  5,  9  ; 
II,  I). 

In  the  period  c.  500-400  very  great  advance  was  made  in 
artistic  engraving.  The  Syracusan  coins  are  especially  notice- 
able for  their  exquisite  beauty  (II,  10  ;  IV,  6).  The  Athenian: 
coinage  had  so  great  a  circulation  through  Hellas  and  so  higl 
a  reputation  for  weight  and  purity  that  it  was  thought  inad- 
visable to  alter  the  old  type.  Hence  the  Athenian  coins  do  not 
show  such  technical  perfection  as  one  might  expect  (see  III,  7J 
compared  with  II,  i). 
462 


PIRATE  I  {c.  700-500) 


lyYDiA.  El.  c.  700,  Earliest  known 

coin. 
Mii^ETUS.     El.     c.  630. 
Samos.     El.     c.  525.      Reign    of 

Poly  crates  (?). 
Oi,D  Smyrna  (?).    El.    Phocaean 

stater,    c.  600. 
Tenedos. 

Aeoi^ian  Cyme  (?).    Before  600. 
DEiyOS.     Before  Persian  wars. 


8.  Phocaea.     x\ge  of  Croesus. 

9.  Cntdus. 

10.  Lycia.     Before  480. 

11.  Thasos  or  Thrace.     El. 

12.  POTIDAEA. 

13.  CORCYRA. 

14.  Thebes. 

15.  Aegina.    Age    of    Pheidon    (?). 

c.  650. 

16.  Corinth.  AgeofPeriander.  c.6oo. 

462 


n.ATH  II  (c.  600-500) 


I.  Athens.      About   age    of     Solon.        6.  Sybaris.    c.  600. 


c.  570 


7.  Crotona.     c.  600. 


2.  Crete.    Minotaur  and  Labyrinth.        8.  Acragas  ( Agrigentum) . 


C.  550. 

3.  Taras  (Tarentum).    c.  560. 

4.  PoSEiDONiA  (Paestum).    c.  510 

5.  EI.EA  (Velia).    c.  520. 


9.  HiMERA.     Before  481. 
o.  Syracuse.  Reign  of  Gelo, 
c.  480. 

463 


COINS 

In  the  age  of  Praxiteles  and  Scopas — that  is,  during  the 
Spartan  and  Theban  supremacies  (400-338) — and  in  the  early 
times  of  Alexander  the  Great  numismatic  art  is  considered  to 
have  reached  its  highest  perfection.  The  electron  staters  of 
Cyzicus  (III,  i)  continued  to  have  a  large  circulation  in  Asia 
Minor  (especially  as  medium  between  Agesilaus  and  the 
Persian  satraps),  and  in  Greece  proper  the  chief  currencies 
were  Theban,  Athenian,  and  Corinthian  (Sparta  had  probably 
till  the  third  century  only  iron  money,  of  which  no  specimen 
remains) .  After  the  victories  of  Epameinondas  and  the  founding 
of  Messene  we  find  Arcadian  and  Messenian  coinage  (V,  11,  12). 
In  Southern  Italy  and  in  Sicily  during  the  Dionysian  tyranny 
and  under  Timoleon  many  very  beautiful  coins  were  struck 
(VI,  I,  2,  &c.).  The  fine  coinage  of  Philip  II  of  Macedonia 
is  especially  noticeable  (V,  5,  6,  8).  The  working  of  his  Thracian 
mines,  and  especially  of  those  near  his  new-named  city  of 
Philippi,  afforded  him  a  great  abundance  of  gold  for  his  '  royal 
coinage,'  as  Horace  calls  his '  Philips,'  and  the  means  to  "  break 
open  the  gates  of  cities  and  undermine  rival  kings  by  bribes  " 
(Hor.  C.  Ill,  xvi.).  Until  these  golden  'Philips'  attained 
currency  the  coinage  of  Greece  itself  had  been  mostly  silver, 
gold  being  coined  only  on  .special  occasions,  when  treasure 
had  to  be  melted  down  to  meet  exceptional  needs.  (Gold 
staters  of  Croesus  and  golden  Darics  were,  however,  current 
in  Greece  in  earHer  times.) 

The  usual  type  of  Alexander's  coins  (VI,  7,  8)  shows  a 
Heracles  head  with  the  lion-skin  (the  features  bearing  a  distinct 
likeness  to  those  of  Alexander),  and  on  the  reverse  the  seated 
figure  of  the  eagle-bearing  Olympian  Zeus  of  Pheidias.  After 
his  death  and  deification  some  of  the  states  of  the  empire  {e.g. 
Macedonia  and  Greece)  continued  for  two  centuries  to  issue 
coins  in  his  name  and  with  his  portrait,  as  Heracles  with  the 
lion-skin,  and  also  with  the  ram-horns  of  Zeus  Ammon,  whose 
son  he  had  claimed  to  be.  In  Egypt,  Syria,  and  other  provinces 
the  Diadochi  (Successors),  such  as  Ptolemy  Soter,  Seleucus, 
and  lyysimachus,  at  first  struck  coins  as  the  vicegerents  of 
Philip  III  and  of  the  young  Alexander  IV,  the  son  of  Alexander 

463 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
the  Great  and  Roxana  {e.g.  VI,  ii) ;  but  when  they  assumed 
the  regal  title  they  began  to  introduce  (as  had  long  been  done 
by  Persian  kings  and  satraps)  their  own  portraits — the  first  in 
Greek  coinage  with  the  exception  of  Alexander's  (who  was  a 
god !) — at  first  timidly  under  the  type  of  the  Heraclean 
Alexander  and  then  in  propria  persona  and  no  longer  under 
the  guise  of  a  deity  (VI,  9,  10).  For  some  time  the  reverse 
bore  the  seated  Zeus,  or  some  design  of  a  similar  motive.  The 
following  additional  explanations  of  some  of  the  reproduced 
coins  may  be  useful. 

I,  5.  Janiform  head,  possibly  Zeus  and  Hera.  For  the 
religious  symbol  of  the  double  axe  (Labrys) 
see  Index ;  and  for  Zeus  Labrandeus  see 
V,2. 

I,  8.  A  '  type  parlant,'  for  the  Greek  word  phoke  means 
a  seal. 

I,  9.  The  lion  was  symbol  of  the  Asiatic  sun-god.  On 
the  reverse  is  Astarte,  the  Asiatic  Aphrodite. 

I,  II.  A  centaur  (Thessalian  or  Thracian  ?)  carrying  off 
a  nymph  (?). 

I,  12.  Poseidon  Hippios  (equestrian)  with  trident.  The 
horse  was  sacred  to  Poseidon,  who  is  said 
to  have  created  it.  The  type  is  very  possibly 
that  of  Poseidon's  image  that,  according  to 
Herodotus,  stood  '  in  the  suburb  '  of  Potidaea 
(viii.  129). 

I,  13.  The  floral  pattern  in  the  sinkings  is  by  some 
thought  to  represent  the  '  Garden  of  Alcinous  ' 
described  by  Homer  (Od.  vii.).  Corcyra 
(KEpKvpa,  Corfu)  was  believed  to  be  the 
Homeric  Scherie,  the  island  of  the  Phaeacians. 

I,  14.  A  Boeotian  shield  and  an  incuse  at  the  centre 
of  which  is  a  cross  in  a  circle — the  archaic 
form  of  theta  (first  letter  of  Thebes). 

I,  15.  Sea-tortoise.     Perhaps  the  oldest  extant  Greek 
silver  coin.    See  Index,  '  Pheidon.' 
464 


plate:  III   {c.  480-400) 


Cyzicus.     El.     c.  470. 
Persia.    Gold  Daric.     c.  480, 
Methymna.     c.  480. 
Kphesus.     c.  450. 
Chios,     c.  450. 

Ol^YNTHUS.      C.  475. 

Athens,    c.  460. 
EiyiS.     Nike. 


9.  Ki/iS.     Hera  head. 

10.  KIyIS.     Zeus  head. 

11.  Byzantium. 

12.  KrETria  (Euboea). 

13.  Terina. 

14.  NEAP01.1S. 

15.  Thurit.     c.  440. 


464 


PLATE  IV  {c.  480-430) 


1.  Etruria  (Fiesole  ?).     c.  460. 

2.  GEI.A.     c.  430. 

3.  HiMERA.     c.  450. 

4.  IvEONTlNI.       C.  475. 

5.  Seunus.     C.  450. 

6.  Syracuse.    Demareteion.    c.  480. 


465 


COINS 

I,  i6.  Pegasus  and  tlie  old  letter  koppa,  used  anciently 
for  K.  Pegasus  was  captured  by  Bellerophon 
at  the  Corintliian  fountain  Peirene. 

II,  3.  Tlie  mythical  Taras,  son  of  Poseidon  and  founder 

of  Tarentum,  riding  on  a  dolphin.  On  reverse 
a  sea-horse  and  scallop-shell. 

II,    4.  Poseidon. 

II,  5.  Unknown  archaic  head ;  perhaps  the  river- 
nymph  Hyele,  Vele,  or  Elea  (  =  the  glassy 
stream  ?).    Cf,  II,  10. 

II,  7.  Notice  the  QRO  instead  of  KPO. 

II,  8.  Before  the  seizure  of  Himera  by  Thero  of  Acragas 

in  481. 
II,  10.  The  nymph  Arethusa,  about  whose  fountain  on 
Ortygia  see  Class.  Diet,  under  '  Alpheus/    An 
Olympic  victory  of  Gelo  is  intimated  by  the 
Nike  and  the  chariot.   Cf,  IV,  6. 

Ill,  I.  Cecrops,  the  mythical  first  king  of  Attica,  half 
man,  half  serpent,  holding  oHve-branch.  The 
electron  staters  of  Cyzicus  had  great  circula- 
tion down  to  about  380.  The  usual  mint-mark 
is  a  tunny-fish. 

Ill,    2.  Gold  Daric  :  the  Great  King  with  bow  and  spear. 

Ill,  3.  Archaic  head  of  Athene.  Helmet  ornamented  with 
a  Pegasus. 

Ill,  4.  The  bee  was  the  badge  of  Bphesus  and  a  symbol 
connected  with  the  worship  of  the  Bphesian 
Artemis. 

III,  5.  Sphinx  seated  before  an  amphora.     Chios  was 

famous  for  its  wine,  and  the  Sphinx  is  a  symbol 
of  Dionysus,  the  wine-god. 
Ill,    8.  Copied  on  the  medal  commemorating  Waterloo. 

III,  9,  10.  Heads  of  Hera  and  Zeus.     See  Note  A  for 

Heraion  and  temple  of  Zeus  at  Olympia. 

III,  II,  12.  The  cow  represents  lo,  who  crossed  by  the 

Bosporus  ('  Cow-ford  '),  and  according  to  one 

version  recovered  her  human  form  and  gave 

2  G  465 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
birth  to  Epaphus,  not  in  Egypt,  but  in  Euboea. 
The  bird  on  the  cow's  back  may  be  Zeus,  who 
in  this  form  guided  Hermes  to  lo  in  order 
tha  the  might  slay  the  hundred-eyed  monster, 
Argus. 

Ill,  13.  This  most  beautiful  coin  of  Terina,  in  Southern 
Italy,  probably  represents  Nike  (Victory). 
The  (j),  scarcely  visible  behind  the  nape  of  the 
neck,  is  the  artist's  signature.  It  is  also  found 
on  the  obverse  of  III,  15.  All  the  finest  coins 
of  Terina  are  by  this  artist. 

Ill,  14.  Athene.  Naples  was  founded  by  Cyme  (Cumae) 
possibly  as  early  as  700.  This  coin  may  date 
from  about  470.  The  naval  battle  off  Cyme 
when  Hiero  beat  back  the  Etruscans  was  in  474. 

III,  15.  Thurii  was  colonized  by  Athenians  and  cityless 

Sybarites  in  443. 

IV,  I.  Winged  Gorgon,   said  to  be  symbol  of  moon- 

goddess  worship.  Date  about  470  probably. 
At  Fiesole  (Faesulae)  there  are  ancient  Etrus- 
can ruins. 

IV,    2.  River  Gelas  in  form  of  bull.   For  Gela  see  Index. 

IV,  3.  The  river-nymph  Himera  sacrificing.  Silenus 
bathing  at  a  fountain. 

IV,  4.  Head  of  Apollo  and  laurel-leaves.  Probably  by 
the  artist  of  the  Demareteia  (IV,  6). 

IV,  5.  River-god  SeHnus  sacrificing  to  Asclepios,  whose 
symbol,  a  cock,  is  figured  below  the  altar. 
Behind  is  figure  of  a  bull  (symbol  of  the  river) 
and  a  leaf  of  selinon  (wild  celery).  On  reverse 
Apollo  and  Artemis  in  chariot,  Apollo  dis- 
charging arrows,  a  symbol  of  the  plague  which 
about  445  desolated  Selinus  and  which  Empe- 
docles  is  said  to^^have  stayed — perhaps  by 
draining  a  marsh. 

IV,  6.  A  silver  Demareteion,  named  after  Gelo's  wife 
Demarete  and  coined  from  the  Carthaginian 
466 


PlyATE;  V  {c.  400-350) 


I.  Coi^OPHON   (?).     Tissaphernes   (?).         8.  Phiwp 
c.  Aoo.  Q.  10.  De: 


c.  400. 

2.  Coin  of  Mausoi^us.  c.  370. 

3.  Tyre.    c.  400. 

4.  SiDON.     c.  375. 

5.  6.  PHII.IP  II. 
7.  Argos.     Hera  head. 


II.     c.  350. 
9,  10.  Dei^phi. 
II,  12.  Messenia. 

13.  CnossUvS.     Hera  head. 

14.  Phaestus.     Talos. 

15.  16.  Syracuse.     Age  of 

Dionysius  I.    c.  400 


466 


PIRATE  VI  (c.  380-300) 


I,  2.  Syracuse.    K1.    Age  of  Timo-       10.  Sophytes  (India). 


leon. 

3,  4.  Carthage,     c.  380 
5,  6.  Cyrene.     c.  380 


11.  Egypt.   Alexander  IV. 

12.  Ptoi^Emy  Soter.     c.  306. 


7,  8.  Coin    of    Ai^exander    the        ^3.  M-  Rhodes,    c.  304 


Great. 
9.  Syria.    Seleucus  I.   c.  306. 


15.  Tarsus,     c.  323. 

16.  SiDON.      c.  340. 


467 


COINS 

spoils  (or  indemnity)  after  the  battle  of 
Himera,  480.  The  head  is  that  of  Nike — pos- 
sibly with  a  suggestion  of  the  features  of 
Demarete. 

V,  I.  A  satrap,  perhaps  Pharnabazus  or  Tissaphernes. 
"  He  wears  the  tiaras  not  the  royal  Kidaris  '* 
(Head).  A  fine  example  of  an  early  non-Greek 
portrait-coin. 

V,  2.  A  coin  of  the  Carian  king  Mausolus,  representing 
Zeus  with  sceptre  and  double  axe  (see  Index 
under  '  Lahrys'). 

V,  3.  Melcarth,  the  Phoenician  (especially  Tyrian)  sun- 
god  and  city-god  (identified  by  the  Greeks 
with  Heracles),  riding  over  the  waves  on  a 
sea-horse  and  holding  a  bow. 

V,  4.  Galley  before  a  fortified  city.  Below  two  lions 
(sun-god  symbols). 

V,  5,  6.  A  silver  '  Philip.'  Head  of  Zeus,  perhaps  from 
the  Pheidian  Zeus  of  Olympia.  Jockey-boy 
on  horse  and  holding  palm-branch  in  com- 
memoration of  Philip's  Olympic  victories. 

V,  7.  The  very  fine  Hera  head  copied  from  the  celebrated 
Hera  by  Polycleitus  at  Argos  (p.  384). 

V,    8.  A  gold  '  Philip.' 

V,  9,  10.  Demeter  and  Apollo  (seated  on  Delphic  om- 
phalos).  Issued  by  Amphictionic  Council  after 
the  Sacred  War  of  346. 

V,  II,  12.  Demeter  and  the  eagle-bearing  Zeus,  probably 
copied  from  the  statue  made  by  Ageladas 
c.  455.  But  the  coin  must  date  after  the  found- 
ing of  Messene  in  369. 

V,  14.  Talos,  or,  as  here  spelt,  Talon,  was  the  bronzen 
giant  who  kept  watch  for  Minos  over  the 
Cretan  coasts,  making  the  circuit  of  the  island 
thrice  daily  and  killing  all  strangers  by  em- 
bracing them  in  his  red-hot  arms — evidently 
a  Moloch  image. 

467 


ANCIENT    GREECE 

VI,  I.  Head  of  Zeus  and  legend  "  Zeus  Eleutherios 
IXiberator]/'  referring  to  the  liberation  of 
Syracuse  by  Timoleon. 

VI,  3,  4.  Female  head  in  Phrygian-like  tiara — possibly 
Dido,  or  the  moon-goddess  Astarte.  lyion 
and  date-palm.  There  are  no  Carthaginian 
coins  till  about  400. 

VI,  5,  6.  Zeus  Ammon.    The  silphion  plant  (see Index). 

VI,  7-12.  See  notes  on  Alexander's  coins,  p.  463.  Sophy tes 
(or  Sopithes)  was  an  Indian  king  who  sub- 
mitted to  Alexander  and  later  issued  coins  of  a 
Greek  model.  In  VI,  11,  the  lion-skin  is  replaced 
by  an  elephant's  scalp. 

VI,  13,  14,  Radiate  head  of  HeHos  (sun-god),  perhaps 
copied  from  the  famous  Colossus  of  Rhodes. 
On  reverse  a  rose  (five-petalled) .  Greek 
rhodos  =  '  a  rose.' 

VI,  15.  I^egend  (in  Aramaic  character),  baal  tars  (Zeus 
of  Tarsus). 

VI,  16.  King    (probably    Artaxerxes    III)    in     chariot. 

Attendant  with  sceptre  and  flask.    Sidon  was 
taken  by  Artaxerxes  III  c.  350. 

VII.  These  portrait  coins  are  mostly  of  late  date,  some 
of  them  struck  in  the  age  of  the  Roman  emperors  by 
Hellenic  cities,  which  introduced  portraits  of  their  most 
celebrated  citizens.  These  are  sometimes  imaginative,  but 
sometimes  they  are  doubtless  taken  from  old  types,  or  from 
old  busts  and  statues,  and  on  this  account  they  are  of  great 
interest. 

VII,  I.  Silver  coin  of  los  (one  of  the  Cyclades),  where 

the   supposed   grave   of  Homer   was   shown. 

Some  of  these  fine  los  coins  go  back  to  the 

fourth  century  B.C.    I^egend,  OMHPOY. 
VII,  2.  Bronze  coin  of  Priene.     I^egend,  BIAC. 
VII,  3.  Bronze  coin  of  Mytilene.    The  only  example;  in 

Paris.    I^egend,  niTTAKOC. 
468 


PIRATE)  VII.  PORTRAIT  COINS 


1.  Homer. 

2.  Bias. 

3.  PiTTACUS. 

4.  Al^CAEUS. 


5.  Anacreon. 

6.  Stesichorus. 

7.  Sappho. 

8.  Pythagoras. 


9.    HERACI^ElTrS. 

10.  Themistocles 
ri.  Anaxagoras. 
12.  Hippocrates. 


468 


COINS 

VII,  4.  The  reverse  of  VII,  3.  I^egend,  ALKAIOC 
MYTILHNH. 

VII,  5.  Coin  of  Teos,  home  of  Anacreon.  I^egend,  THI12N 
('Of  the  Teans').  Probably  from  an  early 
statue.  On  the  Athenian  Acropolis  was  one 
(p.  198)  side  by  side  with  that  of  Xanthippus, 
his  friend,  which  Pericles  is  said  to  have 
erected.  The  description  given  of  it  is  hardly 
credible,  viz.  that  it  represented  him  in  a 
state  of  intoxication,  with  his  clothes  fallen 
to  the  ground  and  one  sandal  lost.  There  is 
a  more  decent  picture  of  him  on  a  vase  in  the 
British  Museum. 

VII,  6.  Coin  of  Himera,  perhaps  of  the  second  century 
B.C.  After  the  destruction  of  Himera  in  409 
another  town  was  built  on  the  further  side 
of  the  river  and  called  Thermae.  Hence  the 
legend:  OEPMITAN  IMEPAION  ('Of  the 
Himeraean  people  of  Thermae  ').  The  figure 
of  Stesichorus  is  evidently  taken  from  the 
statue  which  Cicero  says  Verres  wished  to 
steal,  and  which  represented  Stesichorus  *'  lean- 
ing over  a  book.'' 

VII,  7.  Coin  of  Mytilene.  I^egend,  ^An..l2.  There 
are  numerous  busts  and  vase-pictures  of 
Sappho,  but  many  very  dissimilar  and  none 
trustworthy. 

VII,  8.  Coin  of  Samos.  I^egend,  nYGArOPAC  CAMION. 
Column  and  globe. 

VII,  9.  Ephesiancoin.  lyCgend,  .  .  .  TOO  EcE»ECLlN.  The 
club  in  the  left  hand  probably  alludes  to 
Heracles  and  the  name  Heracleitos. 

VII,  10.  Bronze  Athenian  coin  of  Roman  Empire.  Prob- 
ably copy  of  some  early  representation  of  the 
Salamis  monument.  Themistocles  standing 
onf a  galley  and  holding  a  wreath  and  a 
trophy. 

469 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
VII,  II.  Coin  of  Clazomenae  with  figure  holding  globe — 

probably  Anaxagoras. 

VII,  12.  Coin  of  Cos.     I^egend,  III  .  .  .    Numerous  busts 

of  the  great  physician  Hippocrates  exist,  but 

none  very  trustworthy.     This  coin  represents 

him  as  a  very  old  man.     He  is  said  to  have 

lived    104    years    (460-356).     Remains    exist 

on  the  island  of  Cos  of  the  baths,  arena,  temple, 

library,    theatre,    &c.,    connected    with    his 

famous   school   of   medicine,   which   included 

open-air  treatment  and  evidently  also  some 

kind  of  faith-heaHng,  for  fragments  of  prayers 

addressed  to  Asclepios  have  been  found,  and 

the  god's  '  famiHars '  in  the  shape  of  serpents 

were    religiously    tended    by    the    patients. 

There  is  also  to  be  seen  a  mighty  plane-tree 

(2350   years   old  !)    under   which,   it   is   said, 

Hippocrates   used    to   sit.     Dante   speaks   of 

"  supreme  Hippocrates,  whom  nature  produced 

for   the   animals   that   she  holds   most   dear 

{i.e,  human  beings]." 


470 


An  Apulian  Funeral  Amphora 


470 


NOTE  D 
POTTERY  AND  VASE-PAINTING 

IN  the  I/ist  of  Illustrations  information  will  be  found  con- 
cerning the  thirty-nine  specimens  of  archaic  pottery 
and  Greek  vases  which  are  depicted  in  this  volume.  Here 
I  shall  add  a  few  general  remarks,  and  shall  first  note 
the  fact  that,  while  many  of  the  vases  of  the  classic  era  are  of 
exquisite  beauty  and  of  inestimable  value  as  works  of  art,  also 
a  fragment  of  common  old  pottery — the  shard,  maybe,  of  some 
ill-shaped,  hand-made  earthenware  vessel,  roughly  decorated 
with  scratches,  or  with  artless  and  grotesque  pictures  of  plants 
or  animals  or  human  beings,  or  incised  perhaps  with  a  few 
rudely  scrawled  letters — may  be  of  very  great  interest,  and 
that  too  not  only  for  the  antiquarian.  It  may  have  sur- 
vived many  a  majestic  work  of  art,  many  a  splendid 
temple,  many  a  famous  city ;  it  may  have  outlived  the  rise 
and  fall  of  mighty  empires ;  it  may  possess  the  power, 
as  I  said  in  reference  to  the  inscription  on  little  Tataia's 
oil-flask,  to  throw  for  us  a  fairy  bridge  across  a  vast  abyss  of 
time. 

Of  archaic  pottery  directly  connected  with  Greek  ceramics 
we  have  two  important  types — the  Cretan  and  the  Aegaean, 
or  *  Mycenaean.' 

(i)  Among  the  relics  of  the  NeoHthic  Age  (c.  6000-3000) 
are  numerous  fragments,  excavated  in  Crete,  of  black, 
hand-made,  unfired  and  undecorated  pottery  of  the  same 
character  as  the  ancient  Italian  bucchero,  the  intensely  black 
colour  of  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  obtained  by  laying 
charcoal  and  resin  on  the  wet  clay.  lyater  relics  of  this  age 
are  hand-burnished  and  have  linear  incisions  filled  with  white 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
pigment.  The  '  Early  Minoan '  pottery  (c.  3000-2000)  is 
somewliat  thick,  but  finely  glazed  and  painted  and  often 
decorated  with  the  so-called  '  spiral '  pattern.  Many  '  beaked  ' 
jugs  belong  to  this  period,  towards  the  end  of  which  wheel- 
made  ware  seems  to  appear.^  The  '  Middle  Minoan '  pottery 
(c.  2000-1500)  is  richly  polychrome,  beautiful  in  form  and 
of  wonderfully  dehcate  consistency,  like  the  finest  porcelain. 
The  decoration  is  both  geometric  and  naturalistic — ^flowers, 
sea-plants,  and  marine  animals,  such  as  the  polypus,  being 
favourite  designs.  (For  this  and  the  beautiful  Kamaresware 
see  Fig.  33  and  I^ist  of  Illustrations.)  In  the  '  I^ate  Minoan ' 
era  {c.  1500-1400),  although  fresco-painting,  carving,  metal- 
work,  and  plaster-moulding  give  evidence  of  a  high  degree  of 
civilization,  pottery  shows  manifest  signs  of  decadence. 

(2)  Much  archaic  pottery  of  what  is  called  the  Mycenaean 
type  (although  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  Mycenae  itself  was 
the  chief,  or  even  an  important,  centre  of  export)  has  been 
found  in  Rhodes  and  many  other  Aegaean  islands,  in  Cyprus, 
Egypt,  and  Sicily.^  The  earliest  specimens  resemble  the  Neo- 
lithic Cretan  pottery,  being  black  or  monochrome,  with  incised 
lines  filled  with  white  pigment ;  then  we  find  dull,  lustreless 
colours,  geometric  or  spiral  patterns,  and  pot-bellied  forms  ; 
then  lustrous  yellowish  glaze,  more  graceful  shapes,  designs 
imitated  from  flowers,  sea-plants,  and  marine  animals,  as  in 
Middle  and  I^ate  Minoan  ware,  and  sometimes  we  have  rude 
effigies  of  horses  and  men.  (See  plate  facing  p.  8  and  Fig.  33, 
and  the  Mycenaean  '  Warrior  Vase,'  Fig.  8.)  A  very  charac- 
teristic example  of  the  *  Mycenaean  type '  is  the  false-necked 
amphora  shown  in  the  plate  facing  p.  8. 

After  the  advent  of  the  Dorians  and  the  disappearance  of 
Cretan  and  Mycenaean  civilization  there  is  a  Dark  Age  in  the 
history  of  Greek  ceramics.     Between  the  latest  pottery  of  the 

^  The  date  of  the  invention  or  introduction  of  the  potter's  wheel  is  much 
disputed.  It  is  generally  placed  "  towards  the  end  of  the  Bronze  Age  " 
(c.  1200  ?).  In  Cyprus  and  the  Aegaean  islands  all  the  pottery  of  c.  2500  to 
1500  seems  to  be  hand-made.  The  wheel  is  mentioned  by  Homer  (//.  xviii. 
600). 

2  The  '  Hissarlik  '  (Trojan)  type  is  again  somewhat  different.  (See  Fig.  33.) 

472 


141.  RED-FIGURED  Vases  and  White  IvEkythi 
c.  520-350 

See  List  of  Illustrations  and  Xote  D 


472 


POTTERY   AND   VASE-PAINTING 

Mycenaean  type  and  the  vases  of  the  classic  era  we  have  little 
but  '  Dipylon  '  vessels  and '  Phaleron '  jugs  (see  Chapter  II, 
Section  A,  and  Fig.  35),  rare  specimens  of  exquisite  pear-shaped 
'  proto-Corinthian '  lekythi,  of  which  fine  examples  may  be 
seen  in  the  British  Museum,  a  few  beautiful  relics  of  '  Fikellura  ' 
(Samian)  ware,  numerous  rather  heavy  but  impressive  Boeotian 
amphoras,  some  of  them  ornamented  with  carved  or  moulded 
figures,  and  the  *  old  Corinthian '  ware,  also  rather  heavy, 
but  finely  proportioned  and  richly  decorated  in  a  strikingly 
characteristic  style  (see  Fig.  35). 

Before  passing  on  to  the  classic  age  of  vase-painting  it  should 
be  remarked  that  by  far  the  greater  number  of  the  almost 
innumerable  extant  Greek  vases  of  this  era  have  been  found, 
not  in  Greece,  but  in  Italy,  especially  in  Tuscany.  From  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  onwards  many  thousands 
have  been  unearthed  at  Vulci  and  Chiusi  (Clusium,  the  city  of 
lyars  Porsena)  and  at  Nola  in  Campania  and  on  other  sites  of 
old  Btruscan  or  South  Italian  cities.  In  1767  great  quantities 
of  these  so-called  '  Etruscan  vases '  were  brought  to  England 
by  Sir  W.  Hamilton,  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  splendid 
collection  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
these  magnificent  vases  were  at  first  believed  to  be  of  Etruscan 
origin.  The  '  Etruscan  theory '  was  stoutly  maintained  by 
most  scholars  of  the  day,  and,  although  strongly  opposed  by 
the  great  German  archaeologist  Winckelmann,  it  was  not 
finally  disproved  until  about  1850,  when  the  researches  of 
Jahn  and  other  Hellenists  showed  that  these  so-called  Etruscan 
vases  were  indubitably  of  Greek  (mostly  of  Attic)  workman- 
ship, and  that  the  products  of  native  Etruscan  art  were  of  a 
very  different  character. ^ 

*  As  those  who  have  visited  the  Etruscan  Museum  at  Florence  know,  the 
pottery  of  the  ancient  Etruscans  (however  interesting  their  terra-cotta 
plastique  may  be)  seems  surprisingly  rude  when  compared  with  their  work 
in  gold  and  bronze,  which  is  regarded  as  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  in 
existence  and  is  eagerly  copied  by  modern  jewellers.  Etruscan  metalwork 
is  said  to  have  been  largely  imported  into  Greece  in  the  classic  era.  (In 
Od.  i.  184  Homer  mentions  Temesa,  probably  an  Italian  town,  as  an  export- 
haven  for  bronze.)  Egyptian  influence  is  traceable  in  old  Etrurian  art,  and 
cartouches  of  Psamtik  I  (660-610)  have  been  found  in  Etruscan  tombs. 

473 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
The  question  is  how  the  presence  in  Etruria  of  such  great 
quantities  of  Greek  vases  at  such  an  early  period  is  to  be 
explained.  In  later  times,  doubtless,  many  imitations  of  Attic 
ceramic  were  produced  in  Italy,  perhaps  by  Greek  craftsmen, 
and  in  the  third  century  there  was  a  vast  output  of  Italian 
vases — Apulian,  lyucanian,  and  Campanian.  But  this  does 
not  explain  why  genuine  Greek  vases  of  the  sixth  and  fifth 
centuries  have  been  found  in  such  great  abundance  in  Etruscan 
cemeteries.  The  difficulty  can  only  be  solved  by  supposing 
that  there  was  at  this  early  age  a  large  importation  from  Greece 
of  such  works  of  art.  It  will  be  remembered  that  even  in  the 
seventh  century  there  was  a  very  considerable  emigration  from 
Greece  to  the  far  West,  and  that  Greek-Italian  cities,  such  as 
Cyme,  Sybaris,  Croton,  and  Taras,  as  well  as  many  Hellenic 
colonies  in  Sicily,  rapidly  became  populous  and  wealthy,  and 
liberally  patronized  the  arts  of  the  mother-country.  It  was 
doubtless  through  such  settlements  that  Greek  art  became 
known  to  the  great  nation  of  the  Tyrseni,  or  Etruscans,  of 
whose  powerful  navy,  allied  to  that  of  the  Carthaginians,  we 
have  read,  and  who,  in  spite  of  their  defeat  by  the  Romans  at 
IfSke  Regillus  (498)  and  by  Hiero  at  Cyme  (474),  continued  for 
two  centuries  to  be  formidable  for  their  military  prowess  and 
renowned  for  their  riches  and  their  luxury  ;  and  it  seems 
unquestionable  that  the  Tyrrhenian  lyucumones  (Princes)  and 
other  rich  men  of  Etruria  bought  up  large  quantities  of  the 
finest  obtainable  works  of  Greek  vase-makers.  The  facts, 
moreover,  that  these  vases  were  much  used  for  sepulchral 
purposes,  and  that  the  Etruscan  cities  were  to  a  large  extent 
depopulated,  and  their  cemeteries  forgotten,  after  the  final 
subjugation  of  the  country  by  the  Romans  {c.  280  B.C.),  may 
be  the  reason  why  so  many  more  Greek  vases  have  been 
discovered  in  Tuscany  than  in  Greece  itself,  where  systematic 
pillage  during  several  centuries  accounts  for  their  disappearance. 
The  age  of  classic  Greek  vase-painting  may  be  divided  into 
three  periods,  which,  though  not  sharply  definable  chrono- 
logically, are  strongly  distinguished  by  their  characteristic 
styles.    These  three  periods  are  : 

474 


POTTERY   AND   VASE-PAINTING 

(i)  That  of  the  '  black-figure  style  '  (c.  700-490). 

(2)  That  of  the  '  red-figure  style  '  {c.  490-350), 

(3)  That  of  the '  new '  or '  beautiful '  style,  which  degenerated 
into  the  richly  ornate,  florid,  elaborate  style  of  South  Italian 
ceramic  art. 

In  the  Greek  vases  of  the  first  classic  period,  of  which  the 
Frangois  Vase  (Fig.  39)  is  one  of  the  earliest  extant  specimens, 
male  figures  are  black  silhouettes  on  the  red  earthenware  back- 
ground. Details  of  the  nude  and  the  dress  are  given  by  lines 
incised  in  the  black  pigment.  The  nude  of  female  figures  is 
painted  in  a  chalky  white,  as  also  are  white  horses,  linen  gar- 
ments, and  certain  bright  portions  of  armour.  In  order  to 
represent  heavy  drapery  the  black  pigment  is  sometimes  laid 
on  thickly  and  assumes  a  purplish  or  greenish  tint.  In  other 
cases,  where  the  pigment  is  thin,  a  reddish  brown  is  produced. 
The  black  silhouette  does  not  allow  of  the  marvellous  beauty 
and  delicacy  of  outline  and  detail  which  we  find  in  red-figure 
work ;  but  these  earlier  vases  with  their  naive  and  realistic 
pictures  are  not  seldom  more  valuable  archaeologically  and 
more  interesting  for  the  student  of  human  nature  than  the 
more  artistic  and  more  idealized — sometimes  more  conven- 
tionalized— paintings  of  the  later  period.  Fine  specimens  of 
the  black-figure  style  are  given  in  the  plates  facing  pp.  218 
and  250,  and  in  Figs.  55  and  56.  The  jar  found  at  Daphnae, 
and  the  Greek  amphora  found,  like  the  Fran9ois  Vase,  in 
Etruria,  are  evidences  of  the  wide  influence  of  Attic  skill  in 
ceramics. 

A  fairly  distinct  line  of  demarcation  between  the  first  and 
second  period  seems  to  be  supplied  by  the  fact  that  all  the 
vases  except  one  found  in  the  Marathon  tomb  are  black- 
figured,  whereas  most  of  the  fragments  excavated  on  the 
Acropolis — relics  of  the  sack  of  Athens  by  Xerxes — are  of  red- 
figured  vases.  This  appears  to  prove  that  a  sudden  change  of 
style  took  place  between  490  and  480  ;  but  we  must  reckon 
here  with  the  facts  that  for  sepulchral  purposes  the  old- 
fashioned  black-figure  vases  were  preferred  long  after  the 
advent  of  the  red-figure  style,  and  that  even  in  the  fourth 

475 


ANCIENT  GREECE 
century,  or  later,  antique  black-figured  vases  continued  to  be 
given  as  prizes  at  the  Panatlienaic  festivals  (Fig.  55).  It  is 
likely  that  for  a  considerable  time  vases  of  both  kinds  were 
produced,  and  it  seems  certain  that  some  celebrated  craftsmen 
worked  in  both  styles.^ 

In  these  vases  of  the  second  classic  period,  the  figures,  which 
are  of  the  natural  red  colour  of  the  baked  clay,  are  blocked  out 
against  a  background  of  black  pigment,  the  contours  being 
softened  by  delicate  incised  lines,  while  details  on  the  red 
surface  are  filled  in  with  lighter  shades  of  black.  The  best 
vases  in  this  style  are  of  incomparable  dignity  in  composition 
and  show  exquisite  skill  in  execution  (see  Figs.  92  and  141). 

White  Athenian  lekythi  (sepulchral  oil-flasks)  seem  to  have 
been  in  fashion  contemporaneously  with  the  red-figured  vases. 
Many  of  them,  especially  earlier  specimens,  which  present 
delicately  outHned  figures  on  a  white  ground,  are  exceedingly 
beautiful.  (See  Frontispiece  and  I^ist  of  Illustrations  under 
Fig.  141.) 

Towards  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  the  simplicity,  dignity, 
and  classic  repose  of  Greek  vase-painting  began  to  be  seriously 
influenced  by  a  taste  for  elaboration,  prettiness,  and  dramatic 
affectation.  In  South  Italy  this  '  new  and  beautiful '  style 
struck  root  and  flourished  luxuriantly,  while  in  the  mother- 
country  the  art  of  vase-painting  suffered  a  sudden  decline,  and 
by  about  250  B.C.  was  practically  extinct.  Immense  quantities 
of  large  and  magnificently  decorated  vases,  with  elaborate 
paintings  and  with  splendid  mouldings  and  volute  handles, 
were  now  manufactured  in  Apulia,  I^ucania,  and  Campania  in 
order  to  adorn  the  palaces  and  villas  of  Roman  nobles  (see 
plate  facing  p.  470  and  Fig.  64).  But  in  spite ^  of  their  mag- 
nificence these  vases  are  for  the  most  part  of  no  great  value 
artistically,  the  paintings  being  weak  and  fantastic  in  compo- 
sition, overcrowded  with  figures,  and  overloaded  with  architec- 
tural designs  and  trivial  details. 

^  At  Palermo  a  vase,  signed  by  Androkides,  shows  on  one  side  black  and  on 
the  other  red  figures. 

476 


LIST   OF   IMPORTANT   DATES 

(See  also  pp.  72-73  and  150) 

776.  First  year  of  first  Olympiad. 

743-668.  First  two  Messenian  Wars  (traditional  date). 

c.  700  (750  ?).     Pheidon  of  Argos. 

683.  I/ist  of  annual  Athenian  archons  begins. 

664.  Naval  battle  between  Corinth  and  Corey r a. 

648  (April  8).  Solar  eclipse  mentioned  by  Archilochus. 

c.  632.  Cylon's  attempt  to  seize  power  at  Athens. 

c.  620.  Dracon's  legislation. 

c.  600.  Periander  tyrant  of  Corinth. 

594.  Solon's  archonship. 

c.  590.  First '  Sacred  War.' 

585  (May  28).  Solar  eclipse  during  battle  between  Alyattes  of 

Lydia  and  Astyages  of  Media. 
560.  Peisistratus  seizes  power. 
556-540.  Peisistratus  is  twice  exiled. 
540-528.  Peisistratus  rules  Athens  till  his  death ;    his  sons 

succeed. 
523.  Polycrates  crucified. 

514.  Hipparchus  killed  by  Harmodius  and  Aristogeiton. 
510.  Hippias    banished     (Tarquins    banished    from    Rome). 

Sybaris  destroyed  by  Croton. 
c.  510-505.     Reforms  of  Cleisthenes. 
499.  The  Ionic  revolt. 
497.  Burning  of  Sardis. 

494-3  (495-4  ?).  Battle  of  I/ade,  and  fall  of  Miletus. 
493.  Themistocles  archon. 
490.  Battle  of  Marathon. 
489.  Death  of  Miltiades. 
482.  Ostracism  of  Aristides. 

477 


ANCIENT    GREECE 
480.  Battles  of  Artemisium,  Thermopylae,  Salamis,  and  Himera. 
479.  Battle  of  Plataea. 
478.  Capture  of  Sestos.    Foundation  of  Confederacy  of  Delos 

(Athenian  Empire). 
474.  Battle  of  Cyme  (Italy). 
472-471.  Ostracism  of  Themistocles  (d.  449). 
470.  Revolt  of  Naxos. 
468.  Battle  of  the  Eurymedon. 
464.  Great  earthquake  at  Sparta.     Revolt  of  Helots. 
462-460.  Rise  of  Pericles.     Cimon  ostracized. 
458-455.  Building  of  the  I/ong  Walls.    Athenian  naval  power 

at  its  height. 
457-456.  Aegina  conquered  by  Athens. 

446.  Thirty  Years'  Peace  between  Athens  and  Peloponnesians. 
440-439.  Revolt  and  reduction  of  Samos. 
438.  Parthenon  finished. 
431-404.  Peloponnesian  War. 
430.  Outbreak  of  plague. 
429.  Pericles  dies. 

425.  Capture  of  Spartans  on  Sphacteria. 
424.  Battle    of    Delion.     Brasidas    in    Thrace     Thucydides 

banished. 
421.  Peace  of  Nicias. 
418.  Battle  of  Mantineia. 
415.  The  SiciHan  expedition. 
413.  The  SiciHan  disaster. 
411-410.  The  Four  Hundred  at  Athens  and  restoration  of 

democracy. 
406.  Battle  of  Arginusae.    Acragas  destroyed  by  Carthaginians. 
405-367.  Dionysius  I  of  Syracuse. 
405.  Battle  of  Aegospotami. 
404.  Athens  surrenders.    The  I^ong  Walls  demolished.     '  The 

Thirty.' 
404-371.  Spartan  supremacy. 

403.  *  The  Thirty '  overthrown.     Democracy  restored. 
401.  Battle  of  Cunaxa. 
399.  Death  of  Socrates.     Return  of  Xenophon. 

478 


IMPORTANT    DATES 

398-360.  King  Agesilaus  of  Sparta. 

395.  Long  Walls  again  begun. 

394.  Battles  of  Gorinth,  Cnidus,  and  Coroneia. 

387.  Peace  of  Antalcidas  (the  '  King's  Peace  '), 

386.  Mantineia  destroyed  by  Sparta. 

382.  Spartans  seize  the  Theban  Cadmeia. 

379.  Spartans  expelled  from  Thebes  by  Pelopidas. 

378.  Second  Athenian  Confederacy  (Empire)  founded,  exactly 
100  years  after  the  founding  of  the  first. 

371.  Battle  of  lycuctra.     Jason  of  Pherae. 

371-362.  Theban  supremacy.  Epameinondas  rebuilds  Man- 
tineia and  founds  Messene.  Pelopidas  in  Thessaly  ;  he 
is  killed  at  Cynoscephalae  (364)  and  Epameinondas  at 
Mantineia  (362). 

361-360.  Agesilaus  in  Egypt ;  his  death. 

359-336.  Philip  II  of  Macedonia. 

346.  Peace  of  Philocrates.  Phocians  crushed.  Philip  president 
of  Pythian  Games. 

339.  Timoleon  defeats  the  Carthaginians  on  the  Crimisus. 

338.  Battle  of  Chaeroneia. 

336.  Philip  assassinated. 

336-323.  Alexander  the  Great. 

FOUNDATION  OF  EARLY  GREEK  COLONIES 

Cyprus  has  Mycenaean  kings,  Sybaris,  c.  721. 

c.  1400.  Taras,  c.  708. 

'  Aeolian  migration,'  c.  1200.  Croton,  c.  702. 

'  Ionian  migration,'  c.  iioo.  Gela,  c.  688. 

Cyprus  colonized  by  Hellenes,  Chalcedon,  c.  685. 

c.  1050.  Byzantium,  Sestos,  Abydos, 
Doris  colonized,  c.  900.  Cyzicus,  c.  650. 

Cyme  in  Italy  founded,  c.  800  Cyrene,  c.  630. 

(or  earlier).  Selinus,  c.  610. 

Naxos,  in  Sicily,  c.  735.  MassaHa,  c.  600. 

Catane,  Himera,  Syracuse,  and  Acragas,  c.  580. 

Corcyra,  c.  734. 

479 


LIST   OF   THE   PERSIAN    KINGS 

Gyrus,  559  {549  ?)-529. 

Sardis  taken,  546.     Babylon  taken,  538. 
Cambyses,  529-522. 

Egypt  conquered,  525. 
The  false  Smerdis  (usurper  for  seven  months),  522-521. 
Darius  I  (son  of  Hystaspes),  521-485. 

Thrace  conquered,  Scythia  invaded,  512.  Marathon,  490. 
Xerxes  I,  485-465. 

Salamis,  480. 
Artabanus  (usurper  for  seven  months),  465-464. 
Artaxerxes  I  (lyongimanus),  464-425. 
Xerxes  II  (two  months),  425. 
Sogdianus  (seven  months),  425-424. 
Darius  II  (Ochus  and  Nothus),  424-405. 

Married  Parysatis, 
Artaxerxes  II  (Mnemon),  405-359. 

Revolt  of  Cyrus  the  younger.   'A  nabasis.  *   Cunaxa,  401 . 
Artaxerxes  III  (Ochus),  359-338. 
Arses,  338-336. 
Darius  III  (Codomannus),  336-331. 

Conquered  by  Alexander  at  Arbela,  331. 

Note.  Darius  I  was  probably  of  the  same  family  (Achaemenidae)  as  Cyrus, 
but  was  not  the  son  of  Cambyses.  Sogdianus  and  Darius  II  were  illegitimate 
brothers  of  Xerxes  II.  Darius  III  was  a  distant  relative  of  Arses.  With  these 
exceptions  and  two  brief-lived  usurpations  the  crown  descended  from  father 
to  son. 


480 


LIST   OF   THE   CHIEF   GREEK   WRITERS, 
PHILOSOPHERS,   AND   SCULPTORS 


I.  Poets,  Historians,  and 
Homer. 

Hesiod. 

Archilochus, /.  c.  700. 
Semonides,  ^.  c.  660. 
Tyrtaeus,  c.  660. 
Stesichorus,  c.  632-556. 
Alcman,^.  c.  630. 
Arion,_/?.  c.  625. 
Alcaeusl  „       r 
Sappho  ]fl'  ''  ^^^' 
S'il<MV^*.£u6oo.^^^_^ 
Theognis,/.  c,  550. 
Ibycus,^.  c,  540. 

II.  Philosophers 
Thales,  c.  636-546. 
Anaximander,  c.  610-545. 
Anaximenes, /.  c.  544. 
Pythagoras,^,  c.  540-510. 
Xenophanes, /.  c.  540-500. 
Parmenides,  c.  513-445. 
Heracleitus, /.  c.  500. 
Anaxagoras,  c,  500-428. 


III.  Sculptors 
Ageladas,  c,  540-455. 
Antenor,/.  c.  500. 
Calamis,  c.  500-430. 
Pheidias,  c.  490-432. 
Myron,  c.  500-410. 


Orators 
Anacreon,/.  c.  530. 
Simonides,  c.  556-467. 
Kpicharmus,  c.  540-450. 
Aeschylus,  525-456. 
Pindar,  c.  522-442. 
Sophocles,  495-406. 
Herodotus,  c.  484-426. 
Euripides,  480-406. 
Thucydides,  471-401. 
Aristophanes,  c.  445-380. 
Xenophon,  c.  444-350. 
Isocrates,  436-338. 
Demosthenes,  c.  385-322. 


Zeno,  c.  488-420. 
Empedocles,  c.  480-425. 
Protagoras,  c.  480-410. 
Socrates,  469-399. 
Democritus,  460-361. 
Plato,  428-347. 
Aristotle,  384-322. 


Polycleitus,  c.  480-412. 
Paeonius,/.  c.  425  (450  ?). 
Scopas,/.  c.  370. 
Praxiteles,;^,  c.  360. 
lyysippus,/.  c.  330. 
2H  4-81 


I 


INDEX 


AahmeS  I,  25 

Aahmes  II — see  Amasis 

Abac,  429  . 

Abaris,  137 

Abdera,  186 

Abu  Simbel,  colossi  at,  xv,  43,  144 

Abydos,  250 

Academeia,  408 

Acanthus,  337 

Achaea,  Athens  and,  294  ;  in  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War,  336 

Achaean  supremacy,  28-36  ;  Homer's 
evidence  relative  to,  64-70 

Achaeans,  origin  of,  7,  75  ;  con- 
querors of  Aegaean  peoples,  28 ; 
capture  Thebes,  33  ;  finer  qualities, 
35-36  ;  inspire  new  religion,  48  ; 
funeral  customs,  48,  66 

Achaemenes,  248,  254 

Achaemenidae,  189 

Achaeus,  75 

Acharnians  of  Aristophanes,  366 

Achermus,  224 

Achilles,  34,  287 

Achilles  and  Memnon  group  at 
Olympia,  382 

Achilles,  Shield  of,  70-71 

Achradina,  341  w.,  342,  405 

Acragas,  120,  274,  275,  277,  278,  404  ; 
temples  at,  451 

Acrocorinthus,  xv,  83 

Acropolis,  Athens,  xviii,  xxiv ; 
early  sculpture  found  at,  227- 
229 ;  rebuilding  on,  under  the 
Empire,  290,  297 ;  theatre  of 
Dionysus  on,  xxiv,  310  ;  pottery 
found  at,  475 

Admetus,  290 

Aeacidae,  221,  222,  281 

Aeetes,  61 

Aegae,  424  «.,  434 

Aegaean  civilization,  1-36  ;  race,  30, 
31  ;  language,  37  ;  age,  approxi- 
mate chronology,  72-73 

Aegicores,  87  «. 


Aegina,  142,  179  ;  remains  of  temple 
of  Athene  at,  231-233  ;  and  sculp- 
ture, 232  ;  conflict  with  Athens,  245, 
293  ;  joins  Confederacy  of  Delos, 
293 ;  in  Peloponnesian  War,  329 

Aeginetan  marbles,  231-233 ;  war,  245 

Aeginetans,  at  Salamis,  266;  Pin- 
dar and,  281 ;  in  Peloponnesian 
War,  329-330 

Aegospotami,  326,  332,  344,  388 

Aeneas,  and  the  i^lymi,  118 

Aeolians,  origin  of,  75  ;  migration  of, 
76-78 

Aeolis,  colonization  of,  76 

Aeolus,  75 

Aeschines,  429,  430,  439,  440,  441 

Aeschylus,  xvii ;  at  Marathon,  242, 
310;  description  of  Salamis,  266, 
267,  312,  315  ;  intellectual  quality, 
278  ;  and  development  of  Attic 
drama,  310;  life,  311 ;  works,  311- 
319 

Aesop,  i6in. 

Action,  129 

Agamemnon,  and  Mycenae,  9  ;  tomb 
of,  10 

Agamemnon  of  Aeschylus,  317-318 

Agarista,  132,  247 

Agathocles,  408 

Agathon,  424 

Ageladas,  226,  309,  382 

Agesilaus,  391,  392,  393,  394.  396,  399 

Agias,  444 

Agis,  344,  392  n. 

Agora,  in  Homer,  67 

Ahriman,  185 

Ajax  of  Sophocles,  358-359 

Alalia,  123,  274 

Alaric,  302 

Alcaeus,  128,  167-168 

Alcamenes,  308 

Alcestis  of  :Euripides,  362,  363  «. 

Alcibiades,  xxi,  326,  337,  338,  340, 
342,  343,  345  n.,  367;  on  Socrates, 
375 


INDEX 


Alcmaeonidae,  135,  137  ;  and  Peisis- 
tratidae,  174, 177, 178  ;  and  temple 
of  Apollo  at  Delphi,  177,  450 

Alcman,  96,  165-166 

Aleuadae,  279,  423 

Alexander  I  of  Macedon,  268,  270, 

279,  423.  424 
Alexander  II,  397,  424 
Alexander  III    (the    Great),    124  w., 

279  «.,  422,  423,  424,  432,  433,  434, 

435,  436,  439,  440.  444,  445,  44^  ; 

destroys  Thebes,  435  ;   and  Stagei- 

ros,  443  ;  and  the  Branchidae,  452  ; 

and  the  temple  of  Artemis,  Ephe- 

sus,  452  ;  coinage  of,  463 
Alexander  of  Bpirus,  433,  434 
Alexander  of  Lyncestis,  434 
Alexander  of  Pherae,  397 
Alexander  Sarcophagus,  xxiii,  445 
Alexandrian  library,  i,  311  w. 
Alphabet,  introduction  of,  into  Europe, 

41 
Altis,  154 
Alyattes,  148 

Amasis  (Aahmes  II),  145,  187,  450 
Amazon,  statue  by  Polycleitus,  xxii, 

385 
Ameinias,  242,  311 
Amenemhat  III,  25 
Amenhotep  III,  25,  27 
Ampe,  237 
Amphictionic  Council,    156,    261    «,, 

427,  429,  430,  431 
Amphictiony,  Ionic,  79 
Amphion,  32 
Amphipolis,    235,    337,     338,    426  ; 

Socrates  at,  375 
Amphissa,  431 
Amphora,  'false-necked,*  ix 
Amyntas  I,  424 ;  II,  424 ;  III,  424,  425 
Anabasis   of    Xenophon,    399,    400  ; 

extracts  from,  400-403 
Anacreon,  187,  197,  198-199,  469 
Anaxagoras,    205,     308,     325,     331 ; 

philosophy      of,      324-325  ;       and 

Democritus,  369 
Anaximander,  192,  204-205,  320 
Anaximenes,  205 
Ancona,  405 
Androkides,  476  n. 
Antalcidas,  393 

Antalcidas,  Peace  of,  389,  393,  437 
Antenor,  230 

Antigone  of  Sophocles,  314,  358,  360 
Antioch,  statue  representing  the  city, 

4i6n. 
Antiochos,  sculptor,  xx 

484 


Antiochus  Kpiphanes,  and  the  Athe- 
nian Olympieion,  456 

Antipater,  440 

Antisthenes,  442 

Apella,  93 

Apelles,  444,  445 

Aphaia,  231,  450 

Aphetae,  258 

Aphrodite,  Cnidian,  xxii,  417 ;  of 
Melos,  447,  448 

Aphrodite,  the  Paphian  goddess,  iii 

Aphrodite,  temple  of,  on  Mount  Eryx, 
453 

Apollo,  probable  northern  origin  of, 
58  ;  the  Delian  statue,  152  n.  ; 
temple  of,  at  Corinth,  216  w.,  449  ; 
throne  of  the  image  at  Amyclae, 
220,  221  ;  statues  of,  225  ;  respect 
of  Persians  for,  239  n.  ;  temple  of, 
at  Phigaleia,  216,  217,  300,  453  ; 
temple  of,  at  Delphi,  450  ;  temple 
of,  at  Selinus,  450-451  ;  temple  of, 
at  Didyma,  451 

Apollo,  'Averter  of  Pestilence,' 
statue,  330  n. 

Apollo  Belvedere,  447,  448 

Apollo  Citharoedus,  419 

Apollo  Epikouros,  453 

Apollo  Saurocionos,  417,  418 

Apollodorus,  421 

ApoUonion,  Selinus,  450-451 

Apology  of  Plato,  377 

Apoxyomenos,  444 

'  Aqayuasha,'  26,  28,  29 

Arbela  tablet,  446  n. 

Arcadian  confederation,  396 

Arcesilaus  IV,  280 

Archelaus,  421,  424  and  n. 

Archidamus,  328,  329 

Archilochus,  163-164 

Architecture,  orders  of  Greek,  215- 
217 

Archons,  86 

Archytas,  210,  407 

Ardericca,  239 

Ardys,  148 

Areopagiticus  of  Isocrates,  437,  438- 
439 

Areopagus,  134,  181,  313;  council  of 
the,  292 

Argades,  87 

Arginusae,  343 

Argives,  and  Persian  invasion,  257  ; 
in  Peloponnesian  War,  338 ;  Mace- 
donian kings  descended  from,  423- 
424 

Argolis,  Dorian  invasion  of,  83 


INDEX 


Argos,  Pelasgic,  34 

Argos,  southern,  founded,  34  ;  Dorian 
occupation,  83  ;  development,  123- 
124  ;  and  sculpture,  225,  304,  308, 
309  ;  conquered  by  Sparta,  245  ; 
in  Peloponnesian  War,  338  ;  joins 
league  against  Sparta,  392 

Arimaspi,  192 

Ariobarzanes,  399 

Arion,  131,  166 

Aristagoras,  205,  236,  243 

Aristeas,  137,  192 

Aristides,  243,  247-248,  265,  266,  287, 
289,  291.  312,  436 

Aristion,  stele  of,  226,  385 

Aristippus,  442 

Aristodemus,  Dorian  king,  91 

Aristodemus,  Messenian  hero,  125 

Aristogeiton,  176,  177 

Aristomenes,  126 

Aristophanes,  xxi,  3 12  w.,  313, 331, 333, 
364-365,  366  ;  works,  366-368  ; 
and  Cleon,  366-367  ;  and  Socrates, 
367,  376-377 

Aristoteles  of  Thera,  145 

Aristotle,  xxiii ;  and  the  philosophy 
of  Anaxagoras,  325  ;  on  Euripi- 
des, 357 ;  on  the  Sophists,  2t2P  '> 
and  theteachings  of  Socrates,  Xl^'> 
life,  443 

Armour,  Homeric,  13 

Art,  quality  of  ancient  Cretan,  18  ; 
connexion  between  Mycenaean  and 
Cretan,  20 

Artabanus,  249,  290 

Artabazanes,  248 

Artabazus,  Persian  commander,  268, 
270,  271,  272 

Artabazus,  satrap,  427 

Artaphemes,  234,  236,  238 

Artaxerxes  I,  290,  293 

Artaxerxes  II,  343,  389-393.  397 

Artaxerxes  III,  427,  433  n. 

Artemis,  Delian  statue,  xv  ;  Orthia, 
temple  of,  loi  ;  temple  of,  at 
Bphesus,  215  n.,  419,  452  ;  Naxian 
statue,  223  ;  Brauronian,  temple 
of,  301 

Artemisia  of  Halicarnassus,  254,  265, 
266  «.,  267,  320 

Artemisia,  wif e  of  Mausolus,  420,  443 

Artemisium,  258,  259 

Ascalon,  148 

Aspasia,  296,  331 

Assurbanipal  (Sardanapalos),  142 

Assyria,  in  the  Dark  Age,  112  ;  kings, 
eighth  to  sixth  century,  150 


Astarte,  iii  ;   temple  of,  on  Mount 

Eryx,  453 
Atalanta,  supposed  statue  of,  419 
Athene,  and  tutelage  of  Athens,  32  ; 
remains  of  pediment  of  old  temple 
of,  on  Acropolis,  228  ;  remains  of 
temple  of,  at  Aegina,  231-233  ;  in 
Marsyas  group,  xix-xx,  309 ;  temple 
of,  at  Aegina,  450  ;  temple  of,  at 
Acragas,  451 ;  temple  of,  on  Sunion, 

457 
Athene  Lemma,  xix,  298,  300,  307 
Athene  Nike,  temple  of,  301,  457 
Athene  Parthenos,  xx,  302,  307,  308 ; 

shield  of,  xviii 
Athene  Polias,  temple  of,  297,  455 
Athene  Promachos,  298-300 
Athenians,  racial  origin,  78 ;  at 
Plataea,  269,  271,  272  ;  character, 
contrasted  with  that  of  Spartans, 
285-286 
Athens,  in  pre-Dorian  times,  31-32  ; 
and  Dorians,  76,  85  ;  Codrus  and, 
85  ;  under  archons,  86  ;  becomes 
capital  of  Attica,  87 ;  develop- 
ment of  the  state,  87,  134-142  ; 
division  of  the  community  into 
tribes,  87  ;  social  order,  88  ;  Cylon's 
insurrection,  136  ;  Dracon's  laws, 
138-139;  Solon's  constitution,  139- 
140 ;  under  Peisistratidae,  173- 
177  ;  return  of  Alcmaeonidae,  177  ; 
Cleisthenes'  reforms,  180  ;  sacked 
by  Persians,  264  ;  Persians'  second 
occupation,  and  destruction,  269, 
270  ;  rise  of  the  Empire,  283-296  ; 
and   Confederacy   of   Delos,    287- 

296  ;    Themistocles  and,  289-290, 

297  ;  building  of  walls,  289-290, 
297  ;  breaks  with  Sparta,  and  joins 
with  Argos,  293  ;  assists  Egypt, 
293  ;  war  with  Corinth  and  Aegina, 

293  ;  routed  at  Tanagra,  294 ; 
truce  with  Sparta,  294  ;  war 
with  Persia  renewed,  294  ;  Long 
Walls  built,  294,  297  ;  truce  with 
Persia,  294  ;  defeated  at  Coroneia, 
294 ;     and   Thirty   Years'    Peace, 

294  ;  and  her  temples,  300  ;  in 
Peloponnesian  War,  326^-345  ;  the 
great  plague,  330 ;  the  Long 
Walls  demolished,  344  ;  under  the 
Spartan  supremacy,  388 ;  joins 
league  against  Sparta,  392 ;  re- 
gains her  power,  394  ;  during  the 
Theban  supremacy,  396,  397  ;  and 
the  rise  of  Caria  and  Macedonia, 

48s 


INDEX 


422  ;  Philip  of  Macedon  and,  426, 
429,  430,  431,432;  the  '  Social  War, ' 
426-427 ;  in  third  Sacred  War, 
42^,  429 ;  Thebes  joins,  against 
Philip  II,  431  ;  and  the  defeat  of 
Chaeroneia,  431-432  ;  appeals  to 
Persia,  433  n.  ;  finally  over- 
whelmed at  Crannon,  434  n. ;  atti- 
tude in  the  conflict  between  Alex- 
ander and  Thebes,  436 

Athos,  249-250 

Atossa,  189,  248 

Atreus,  tomb  of,  10;  Treasury  of,  11, 
216  n.  ;   succeeds  Eurystheus,  75 

Attains,  general  of  Philip  II,  433,  434, 

435 

Attains,  king  of  Pergamon,  447 

Attica,  resistance  of,  to  conquest,  31  ; 
Dorians  and,  76,  82  ;  Athens  be- 
comes capital  of,  87  ;  origin  of  the 
name,  87  ;  in  Peloponnesian  War, 
329,  330,  332.  344 

Atticus,  Herodes,  301 

Augeas,  153 

Axe,  double,  xi,  xii,  49-50 

Baai,,  109 

Babylonia,  conquest  of,  by  Cyrus,  187 
Bacchae  of  Euripides,  362 
Bacchante,  statue  by  Scopas,  419 
Bacchiadae,  129 
Bacchylides,  199,  279 
Bagoas,  433  n. 

Banqueters  of  Aristophanes,  366 
Bare  a,  145 

Bardyia,  or  Smerdis,  188 
Basilica,  Poseidonia,  xv,  454 
Bathycles,  221 
Batrachomyomachia,  158 
Battiadae,  145 
Battus,  145,  280 
Bermius,  424 

Bhryges,  or  Phrygians,  Aryan  origin 
of,  7 

'^■'W^HSTfnSistophanes,  368 

Boeotia,  revolt  of,  against  Athens,  294 

Boeotian  league,  294 

Boeotians,  81 

Boges,  287 

Boule,  in  Homer,  67  ;  Athenian,  in- 
stituted, 140  ;  new  Athenian,  180 

Branchidae,  statues,  223  ;  temple  of 
the,  451-452  ;  Xerxes  and  Alex- 
ander and,  452 

Brasidas,  337,  338,  426 

Brauro,  346 

486 


Bronze,  in  ancient  Troy,  6,  7  ;  intro- 
duced by  Achaeans,  30  ;  imported 
from  Italy,  473  « 

Brute  the  Trojan,  2 

Bucchero,  19,  24,  471 

Bull,  the,  in  Cretan  art,  20  ;  in  Cretan 
religion,  20,  23,  56 

Bull-god,  identified  with  Zeus,  56 

Byzantium,  131;  revolt  against  Athens, 
296  ;  sea-fight  at,  343  ;  in  '  Social 
War,'  426  ;   and  Philip  II,  431 

Cadmus,  i,  32-33 

Caiadas,  126 

Calamis,  230-231,  308,  330  «.,  417 

Calaureia,  440 

Caligula,  and  statue  of  Olympian 
Zeus,  308 

Callias,  294 

Callicrates,  302 

Callimachus,  242 

Callinus,  158 

Callistratus,  177 

Cambyses,  father  of  Cyrus,  184 

Cambyses,  son  of  Cyrus,  187,  188 

Canachus,  226 

Candaules,  147 

*  Canon,'  of  Polycleitus,  384 

Cantharus,  297 

Cappadocians,  8 

Capture  of  Miletus  of  Phrynichus,  310 

Carchemish,  451 

Caria,  343  «.,  422 

Carrey,  drawings  of  the  Parthenon 
by.  306,  307 

Carthage,  founded  by  Phoenicians, 
109;  demolished,  no;  power  in 
Western  Mediterranean,  274  ;  and 
Sicily,  403-408  ;  invaded  by  Syra- 
cuse, 408 

Cassander,  436 

Castalian  Fount,  xv,  157 

Castor  and  Pollux  (?),  statues,  447 

'  Catalogue  of  Ships,'  83  n. 

Catane,  118 

Cecrops,  31,  32 

Ceos,  199 

Cephala,  excavations  at,  19 

Cephisodotus,  416 

Cerameicus,  xxi,  98,  330 

Chabrias,  426 

Chaeroneia,  422,  431-432,  434,  439 

Chalcedon,  116 

Chalcidian  Confederacy,  426,  428 

Chalcis,  128,  129,  427 

Chaldaeans,  and  astronomy,  202  n. 

Charaxus,   167,  170 


INDEX 


Chates,  general,  426,  427,  431,  432 

Chares,  sculptor,  444,  446 

Chares  of  Teichiussa,  xvi,  223 

Charilaus,  91 

Charioteer  of  Delphi,  231,  308,  417 

Charondas,  127 

Cheirisophus,  391 

'  Chest  of  Cypselus,'  129 

Chetasor.  8 


ma,   possibility   of  commerce  of, 

with  ancient  Troy,  6  «. 
Chionides,  366 
Chios,  288,  426 
Chiusi,  473 

Choephoroe  of  Aeschylus,  317,  318 
Choerilus,  195 

Chronology  of '  mythical '  age,  i ,  72-73 
Cimmerians,  xv,  61,  148 
Cimon,  father  of  Miltiades,  243 
Cimon,  son  of  Miltiades,  244,  248,  287, 

289,  290,  291,  292,  294,  295,  296, 

297.  298,  301,  307,  311,  312,  456 
Cimon's  Wall  and  Gate,  Athens,  297, 

298 
Cineas,  423 
Cition,  294 

City,  development  of  the,  84,  85 
Clazomenae,  xvi ;  sarcophagus,  224 
Clearchus,  artist,  220  n. 
Clearchus,  Spartan  harmost,  389,  390 
Cleisthenes,  Athenian  reformer,  132, 

178,  180,  280 
Cleisthenes,  tyrant  of  Sicyon,  132 
Cleitus,  436 

Cleob^T^JUa^ 

Cleombrotus,  regent,  244,  264,  268  w. 

Cleombrotus,  king,  395 

Cleomenes,  178,  236,  243-244 

Cleon,  326,  331,  333-334.  336,  337. 
338,  366,  367 

Cleopatra,  a  consort  of  Philip  II,  433 

Cleophon,  344 

Clouds  of  Aristophanes,  367 

Clytaemnestra,  Tomb  of,  11  n. 

Cnidus,  battle  of,  389,  392;  and 
statue  of  Aphrodite,  417  ;  head  of 
the  Demeter  statue  found  at,  419 

Cnossus,  excavations  at,  18-22  ;  sack 
of,  27 

Codrus,  76,  85 

Coins,  portraiture  in,  383,  464  ;  first 
use  of,  and  earliest  types,  462  ; 
artistic  advance  in,  462  ;  Syra- 
cusan,  462  ;  Athenian,  462  ;  per- 
fection in  manufacture,  463  ;  early 
Spartan    iron    money,    463 ;     of 


Sicily  and  Southern  Italy,  463  ; 
of  Philip  of  Macedon,  463  ;  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  463,  See 
Plates  I-VII,  and  explanations, 
pp.  464-470 

Colonies,  debt  of  Greece  to,  113  ; 
influence  upon  patriotism,  114- 
115  ;  affection  of,  for  the  mother- 
country,  115 

Colonization,  Hellenic,  causes  that 
produced,  114;  influence  on  the 
national  history,  115 

Colonus,  358,  360 

Colophon,  122,  197 

Colossus  of  Rhodes,  444,  446 

Comedy,  Old  Attic,  364 

Comedy,  origin  and  development  of, 
365-366 

'  Concordia  '  temple,  Acragas,  451 

Confederacy  of  Delos,  287-288 

Conon,  344,  389,  391,  392,  393 

Corcyra,  118,  123,  129,  130,  296,  327, 
328,  332,  334-335.  426,  464 

Corcyraean    oligarchs,    massacre    of, 

334-335 
Corinna,  278,  279 

Corinth,    xiv ;    Dorian    occupation, 
83  ;  development,  84,  123  ;  under 
tyrannies,    1 29-1 31  ;    in  Pelopon- 
nesian  War,  327,  328,  335  ;    joins 
league      against      Sparta,      392  ; 
Philip  II  at,  433  ;    Alexander  the 
Great  at,  435 
Corinthian  order,  215-216,  217 
Coroebus,  architect,  302 
Coroebus,  athlete,  123 
Coroneia,  xxii,  294,  337,  392 
Cos,  83,  426 
Cosmoi,  no 
Council  of  Ten,  345 
Crannon,  434  n.,  440 
Crates,  366 
Cratinus,  366 
Cratylus,  409 
Cresilas,  xxi,  383 

Cretan  civiUzation,  early,  18  ;  art, 
18,  20,  21  ;  inscriptions,  19,  20, 
39  ;  women's  dress,  21  ;  naval 
power,  22  ;  religion,  and  the  bull, 
20,  23,  56 ;  script,  38-39 ;  numerical 
symbols,  39  ;  deity,  the  first,  52-54. 
See  also  Crete 
Crete,  and  Vaphio  cups,  18  ;  excava- 
tions in,  18-22  ;  human  sacrifice 
in,  23  ;  intercourse  with  Egypt, 
24-26 ;  writing  in,  38  ;  Dorians 
invade,  82  ;   in  the  Dark  Age,  no 

487 


INDEX 


Crimea,  «=  Cimmeria,  148 ;  Pericles  at, 
296 

Crimisus,  battle  of,  407 

Crissa  (Cirrha),  156,  157 

Crissaean  plain,  156,  157,  427,  431 

Critias,  344,  345  n. 

Critius,  230 

Crito,  378 

Crito  of  Plato,  377 

Croesus,  149,  182-184,  451,  452  ; 
column,  xvi,  182 

Cross,  sacred,  51 

Croton,  121, 122,  474;  Pythagoras  at, 
209  ;  and  the  Helen  of  Zeuxis,  421  ; 
temple  of  Hera  I^acinia  near,  454 

Crypteia,  90 
Ctesias,  390  n. 
Ctesiphon,  439 
Cimaxa,  390 
'  Cup-bearer,'  20,  25 
Curetes,  22 
Cyaxares,  148 
Cyclic  poets,  62,  157 
Cyclops  of  Euripides,  317  w.,  362 
Cylon  of  Athens,  136 
Cylon  of  Croton,  210 
Cyme,  Aeolian,  and  Buboean,  117 
Cyme  (Cumae),  in  Italy,  76,  117,  277, 
474;    Daedalus   legend  and,   117; 
Hiero  and,  277 
Cynaegeirus,  242 
Cynic  philosophy,  443 
Cynossema,  343 
Cypria,  157 
Cyprus,  in  the  Dark  Age,  iio-iii  ; 

early  pottery  in,  472  and  n. 
Cypselus,  129  ;   '  chest '  of,  129,  220 
Cyrenaica,  145 
Cyrene,  123,  145,  293 
Cyropaedeia  of  Xenophon,  399 
Cyrus    the    Great,    183-184 ;     takes 
Babylon,  187  ;   death,  187  ;   tomb, 

193 
Cyrus  the  younger,  343,  389,  390, 391 
Cythera,  337 
Cyzicus,  343  ;   coinage  of,  463 

Dabdai^idab,  222 

Daedalus,  18;  and  Cyme  in  Italy, 
117  ;  and  statuary,  222 

Damasippus,  369 

Danaides  of  Aeschylus,  313 

Danauna,  26 

Daphnae,  xvi,  143, 144,  475 

Darius  I,  xvii,  188-191,  193,  451  ; 
tomb  of,  194 ;  invades  Greece, 
234-243  ;  death  of,  248  | 


488 


Darius  II,  343 

Darius  III,  433  n» 

Dark  Age,  in  Egypt,  25  ;  in  Greece, 
74-107 

Datis,  234,  238 

Deceleia,  340 

Deigma,  Athens,  298 

Deinomenes,  280 

Delion,  332,  337  ;  Socrates  at,  375 

Delos,  XV,  152,  239 ;  Confederacy 
of,  287-288 

Delphi,  dedication  in  temple  at,  in 
honour  of  Plataea,  272  ;  Alex- 
ander I's  golden  statue  at,  424 ;  and 
the  Sacred  Wars,  427 

Delphic  oracle,  and  Dorians,  81 ;  and 
Persians,  263  ;  in  Peloponnesian 
War,  328  ;   and  Socrates,  371 

Demades,  432 

Demaratus,  238  n.,  244,  254 

Demarete,  275,  276,  277  n. 

Demareteia,  276,  Plate  IV 

Demeter  statue,  head  of,  by Scopas  (?), 
419 

Demeter,  temple  of,  at  Paesttmi,  217, 

454 

Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  448 

Demiurgi,  88 

Democritus,  369-370 

Demosthenes,  335,  336,  337,  341,  342, 
439-441  ;  and  Philip  II,  423,  427  n., 
428,  429,  430,  431,  432,  434  ;  at 
Chaeroneia,  432  ;  and  Alexander 
the  Great,  435,  436  ;  extract  from 
the  Third  Philippic,  441  ;  extract 
from  De  Corona,  441 

Dercyllidas,  391 

Deucalion,  i,  255 

Diadoumenos,  384 

Dicasteries,  308 

Dictaean  cave,  48 

Didyma,  237;  temple  of  the  Bran- 
chidae  at,  451-452 

Diogenes,  435,  443 

Dion,  406,  407 

Dionysia,  Great,  175 

Dionysius  I,  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  393, 
394.  396,  405.  406 

Dionysius  II,  406,  407 ;  and  Plato, 
406 

Dionysus,  theatre  of,  Athens,  301, 
310  ;  festivals  of,  and  beginnings 
of  Attic  drama,  309  ;  Alexander 
the  Great  and,  436 

Dipoenus,  223 

Dipylon,  98 

'  Dipylon  '  antiquities,  98-101 


INDEX 


Discoholos,  XX,  304,  309 
Dorian  invasion,  i  n.,  80-83 
Dorians,  in  Homer,  64  ;    origin,  75, 

81  ;  alliance  with  Heracleidae,  75  ; 
repelled  in  Attica,  76,  82,  85  ;  and 
oracle  of  Delphi,  81  ;  religion,  81  ; 
found  Sparta,  82  ;    invade  Crete, 

82  ;  invade  Argolis,  83  ;  at  My- 
cenae and  Tiryns,  83 ;  occupy 
Argos,  Corinth,  Megara,  Aegina, 
Rhodes,  and  Cos,  83  ;  found 
Halicarnassus  and  Cnidus,  83  ; 
contempt  for  fortifications,  89 ; 
lack  of  art  instinct,  96 

Doric  order,  216,  217 

Doris,  81 

Dorkis,  285 

Dorus,  75 

Doryphoros,  384 

Double  axe,  xi,  xii,  49-50 

Dracon,  138  ;  laws  of,  138-139 

Drama,  beginnings  of  Attic,  175, 
309  ;  development  of,  310,  355- 
356,  365  ;  comedy,  364-366 

Dress,  Minoan  and  Mycenaean,  12, 
14-15,  458  ;  Homeric  or  Achaean, 
14-15,  458-459  ;  '  Dipylon,'  99- 
100,  loi,  459  ;  the  '  Doric  chiton,' 
459  ;  early  Athenian,  459-460  ; 
later  Athenian,  460-461  ;  in  '  clas- 
sical '  statuary,  460-461 

Dying  Gaul  (or  Dying  Gladiator),  447 

Dyrrhachium — see  Epidamnus 


Ecci,KSiA,  135,  181 

Eelios,  117 

Egesta — see  Segesta 

Egypt,  intercourse  with  Crete,  24- 
26  ;  and  Mycenae,  26-27  '»  approxi- 
mate chronology  of  the  ancient 
civilization,  72-73  ;  in  the  Dark 
Age,  IH-112  ;  Aethiopian  domina- 
tion, 112  ;  Assyrian  domination, 
112;  Psamtik  liberates,  143;  re- 
ceives Greek  settlers,  143  ;  Nebu- 
cadnezar's  invasion,  144 ;  astro- 
nomical science  in,  149  tz.  ;  kings, 
eighth  to  sixth  century,  150  ; 
under  Aahmes,  187  ;  conquered  by 
Persia,  187,  188,  248  ;  helped  by 
Athens,  293 

Egyptians  of  Aeschylus,  313 

Eion,  267,  287,  337 

Eirene,  statue  by  Cephisodotus,  416 

Elateia,  431 

Eleans,  Sparta  and,  392  | 


Eleatic  philosophy,  and  Socratic  con- 
ception of  the  divine  Will,  322 

Electra  of  Sophocles,  318,  359  ;  of 
Euripides,  318,  363-364 

Electron  coinage,  147,  462 

Elephantine,  xv,  320 

Eleusinian  Mysteries,  302,  311 

Eleusis,  140  ;  Hall  of  Mysteries  at, 
300,  302 

Elgin,  lyord,  and  Parthenon  sculp- 
tures, 306 

Elpinice,  sister  of  Cimon,  296 

Elymi,  118,  453 

Embassy  of  Aeschines,  439 

Empedocles,  137,  322-323  ;  philo- 
sophy of,  323-324 

Emporion,  at  the  Peiraeus,  298 

Epameinondas,    124,   394,   395,   396, 

397»  398 
Ephesus,  temples  of  Artemis  at,  182, 

217,  452,  453 
Ephetae,  134,  138  n. 
Ephialtes,  Athenian  politician,  292, 

313 

Ephialtes,  traitor  at  Thermopylae, 
261 

Ephors,  90,  93 

Epicharmus,  365 

Epicurus,  369,  443 

Epidamnus  (Dyrrhachium),  130,  296, 
327.  328 

Epigoni,  raze  Thebes,  33 

Epimenides,  137 

Epipolae,  341  n.,  342,  405 

Epirus,  the  women  of,  433 

Eratosthenes,  and  '  prehistoric '  chro- 
nology, I 

Erechtheion,  31  n.,  215  n.,  300,  307, 

455 
Erechtheus,  31,  32,  455 
Erechtheus,  '  house  '  of,  31  n.,  306, 

455 
Eretria,  128,  129,  239 
Eros  of  Praxiteles,  417,  418 
Eryx,  Mount,  453 
Etruria,  and  Greek  pottery,  473-474; 

metalwork  of,  473  n. 
'  Etruscan '  pottery,  473 
Etruscans,  29,  117 
Euboea,    revolt  of,    against  Athens, 

294  ;  in  Peloponnesian  War,  343 
Eubulus,  426,  428,  429  n. 
Eucleides,  442 
Eugammon,  145 
Eumenes,  447 
Eumenides,  360  and  n. 
Eumenides  of  Aeschylus,  312,  317,  318 

489 


INDEX 


Eunomia  of  TjttaevLS,  i6o 

Eupatridae,  88,  134 

EupoKs,  366 

Euripides,  xxi,  311  m.,  325,  346,  357- 

358,  366 ;  estimate  of  his  work,  361- 

362  ;  life,  362  ;  works,  362-364 
Euryalus,  fort,  405 
Eurybiadas,  264,  265 
Eurymedon,  Athenian  admiral,  340, 

34i>  352 
Eurymedon,  battle  of,  288,  290,  297 
Eurystheus,  75 
Euxine,   colonization  of.    and  trade 

with,  1 1 5-1 16 
Evagoras,  344,  393 
Evans,   Sir   Arthur,    excavations    in 

Crete  by,  18-22 
Exhortations  of  Solon,  161,  162 

FarnESK  Bull,  419,  446 
Fikellura  ware,  xiv,  473 
Fire-bearing  Prometheus  of  Aeschylus, 

316 
Four  Hundred,  council,  343 
Fran9ois  Vase,  xiv,  xxiv,  43,  475 
Frogs  of  Aristophanes,  312  n.,  314, 

315  «.,  368 
Furies,  Areopagus  and  the,  134 

Gades,  117 

Galatia,  447 

Ganymede  group,  443 

Gargaphia,  270 

Gela,  120,  311 

Geleontes,  87 

Gelo,  120,  256,  275,  276 

Georgi,  88 

Geraneia,  passes  of,  293 

Gerusia,  92 

Goethe,  and  the  '  Homeric  age,*  62 

Golden  Crown,   controversy  of  the, 

439,  440 
Gorgias,  370,  437 
Gorgo,  243  n. 

Greece,  origin  of  the  name,  35  n. 
Gyges,  147,  148 
Gylippus,  341,  342 

Hadria,  405 

Hagia  Triada,   excavations   at,    19  ; 

sarcophagus  foimd  at,  22 
Halicarnassus,  320  ;    Mausoleum  of, 

420 
Hall  of  the  Double  Axes,  19 
Hall  of  Mysteries,  Eleusis,  300,  302 
'  Hallstatt  civilization,'  33  n.,  34 
Hamilcar,  275,  276,  404 

490 


Hannibal,  general,  404 

Hannibal  the  Great,  454 

'  Harbour,  The,'  Athens,  297 

Harmodius,  176 

Harpagus,  186 

Harpalus,  440 

*  Harpy  tomb,'  224 

Hatshepsut,  Queen,  25 

Hecabe,  Queen,  8 

Hecataeus,  192,  205,  319,  320 

Hecatompedos,  302,  455 

Helen  of  Zeuxis,  421,  454 

Helena  of  Euripides,  364 

Heliaea,  140 

Hellanicus,  319,  320 

Hellas,  35  ;  becomes  the  general  name 

for  all  lands  inhabited  by  Greeks,  35 
Hellen,  34,  74 

Hellenes,  Aryan  origin,  4,  34 
Hellenic  script,  41 
Hellenica  of  Xenophon,  400 
Hellespont,  Xerxes  and,  250 
Helots,  90,  94 
Hera,  Samian   statue,    232  ;     statue 

by  Polycleitus,    384  ;     temple   of, 

at  Olympia,   449  ;    temple  of,    at 

Samos,  454 
Hera  Lacinia,  temple  of,  at  Acragas, 

451 ;  temple  of,nearCroton,  451,  454 
Heracleidae,  '  Return  '  of,  75 
Heracleitus,  205-207  ;   Plato  and  the 

doctrines  of,  409 
Heracles,  75,  117,  423  ;  and  Olympic 

Games,  153  ;  statue  by  Lysippus, 

444 

Heraion,  Olympia,  449 

Hermes,  mutilation  of  the  busts  of,  at 
Athens,  340 

Hermes  of  Praxiteles,  417,  449 

Hermocrates,  340 

Hermodorus,  205 

Herodotus,  xxi ;  on  events  in  the 
rise  of  Persia,  182-191  ;  his 
geography,  192-193  ;  story  of 
the  Persian  invasions,  234-273  ; 
at  Thurii,  295,  320  ;  life,  320  ; 
value  as  historian,  321  ;  on  the 
claim  of  Alexander  I,  423  ;  story 
of  the  Argive  origin  of  Macedonian 
kings,  423-424 

Herostratus,  452 

Hesiod,  date,  62,  102-103  ;  and  the 
'  heroic  age,'  62  ;  birthplace,  103  ; 
contest  with  Homer,  103  ;  works, 
103  ;  compared  with  Homer,  104  ; 
the  Erga,  103-107  ;  the  Theo- 
I       gonia,  103,  104,  107,  316 


INDEX 


Hiero  I,  120,  231,  275,  277,  279,  280, 
311,314.474 

Hiero  II,  408 

Hieronymus,  408 

Himera,  118,  146,  275,  276,  404,  408 

Himilco,  404,  405 

Hipparchus,  176,  177 

Hippias,  176-178,  237,  239,  244,  423 

Hippias,  the  Sophist,  371 

Hippocrates,  Athenian  general,  337 

Hippocrates,  physician,  330  n.,  470 

Hippodamus,  295,  298 

Hissarlik,  Hill  of,  5 

Histiaeus,  191,  235 

Hittite  script,  8 

Hittites,  and  ancient  Troy,  8 

Homer,  transmutation  of  the  gods 
in,  59  ;  inconsistencies  in,  61  n.  ; 
possible  date,  62  ;  birthplace,  62- 
63  ;  nationaUty,  63  ;  and  Hesiod, 
63  ;  local  of  the  poems,  63-64  ,* 
so-called  tomb,  64  ;  portrays  age 
of  the  Achaean  supremacy,  64- 
70 ;  social  system  in,  66-67  »* 
houses  and  palaces  in,  67-68  ; 
art  in,  68  ;  affection  and  kinship 
in,  68  ;  love  in,  68-69  ;  and  the 
'  Shield  of  Achilles,'  70 

'  Homeric  age,'  60-71  ;  authenticity 
of,  60-62 

Hophra  (Apries),  144,  145 

Hopletes,  87 

Horns,  religious  symbol,  49 

Horse,  introduction  into  Greece,  13  ; 
mto  Egypt,  13 

Hydarnes,  261 

Hyksos,  25 

Hymn  to  Apollo,  128 

Hypnos,  xxii 

Hypsipyle  of  Euripides,  311 

Hyria,  27 

Hysiae,  123 

Hystaspes,  i88 

lAPYGiANS,  Messapian,  27 
lavones,  78 
Ibycus,  187,  197-198 
Ictinus,  297,  300,  302,  383,  453 
Idol- worship,  218-221 
Iliad,  authenticity  of,  61-62 
Iliad,  Little,  157 
Ilium,  251 

Illyria,  ravaged  by  Philip  II,  430 
Illyrians,  80 
Imbros,  242 

'  Immortals,'  at  Thermopylae,  261  ; 
at  Plataea,  271 


Inachus,  i 

Inaros,  293 

Ion,  75.  87 

Ion  of  Euripides,  362 

Ionia,  colonization  of,  76  ;  develop- 
ment of,  79, 128 ;  revolt  of,  191,  234 
et  seq. 

lonians,  origin  of,  75  ;  migration  of, 
76,  78-80 ;  Athenians  related  to,  78 

Ionic  Amphictiony,  79 

Ionic  order,  216,  217 

Iphicrates,  397,  426 

Iphigeneia  in  Aulis  of  Euripides,  362, 

364 
Iphigeneia  in  Tauris,  362,  363  «.,  364 
Iphitus,  123,  153 
Iran,  184 
Iron,  in  ancient  Troy,  7  w.  ;    among 

Aegaean peoples,  30;  Achaeans  and, 

30  ;    Dorians  and,  82  ;   mentioned 

in  Homer,  61  n. 
Isagoras,  178 
Isocrates,  xxiii,  394,   426,    428,  430, 

437-439.  441.  443 
Issa,  405 

Isthmian  Games,  156 
Istone,  335 
Italy,  Greek    colonies    in,    121-123  ; 

Greek  pottery  in,  473,  474,  476 
Ithome,  Mount,  siege  of  Messenians 

on,  292 

J  A  SON  of  Pherae,  395,  423 
Jeremiah,  144-145 

Kai,i,irhoE,  175,  176  «. 

Kamares  ware,  xiii,  472 

Kephtiu,  25-26 

Khyan,  25 

'  King's  Peace,'  389,  393,  437 

Knights  of  Aristophanes,  366 

Knosos — see  Cnossus 

Labotas,  91 

Labrys,  xi,  xii,  49-50 

Labyrinth  of  King  Minos,    18,   19 ; 

Egyptian,  25  ;   at  Clusium,  29  n. 
Lacedaemon — see  Sparta 
Lade,  237 

'  Lady  of  Wild  Creatures,'  52 
Laios  of  Aeschylus,  314 
Lamachus,  340 
Lampsacus,  291,  325 
Language,    Aegaean,    37  ;    Pelasgic, 

37 
Laocoon,  statue,  419,  446 
Larisa,  34 

491 


INDEX 


Lekythi,  ix,  xxiv,  476 

Lemnos,  242,  300 

I^enaia,  175 

Leochares,  443,  448 

Leonidas,  xviii,  244 ;  at  Thermo- 
pylae, 260-263 

Leontini,  118,  339 

lyeotychidas,  244,  273,  285 

Lesbos,  128,  288,  426 

Lesche,  Cnidian,  301 

Leucas,  130 

ieucippus,  369 

Leuctra,  389,  395,  423 

Lion  Gate,  at  Mycenae,  10,  216  n. 

Long  Walls,  Athens,  297,  344 

Loosing  of  Prometheus  of  Aeschylus, 
316 

Lucumones,  474 

Lyceum,  Athens,  443 

Lycia,  annexed  by  Mausolus,  427 

*  Lycian  Sarcophagus,'  445  n. 

Lycian  writing,  40 

Lycians,  Aryan  origin  of,  7 

Lycius,  382 

Lycomedes,  287 

Lycurgus,  91,  92,  93  «.,  123 

Lydia,  146-150 

Lydians,  Aryan  origin  of,  7 

Lygdamis,  320 

Lysander,  344,  345,  388,  389,  392 
and  n. 

Lysias,  xxi,  295,   320,   345   w.,  377, 

394 
Lysicrates,  monument  of,  216 
Lysippus,  443-445,  446 
Lysistrata  of  Aristophanes,  368 

Macedonia,  during  Persian  supre- 
macy, 190 ;  Theban  supremacy, 
397,  422  ;  rises  into  power,  422  ; 
relationship  to  Hellas,  423 ;  early 
inhabitants,  423  ;  development  of 
the  nation,  423  ;  claim  of  the 
royal  line  to  Hellenic  descent, 
423  ;  sways  Hellas,  434 

Maeonians,  147 

Magi,  185 

Magna  Graecia,  121-123 

Magnes,  366 

Magnesia,  291 

Mago,  405 

Malchus,  274 

Mandrocles,  421 

Mantineia,  battles  at,  338,  398 ;  razed 
by  Sparta,  393  ;  rebuilt,  396  ;  sides 
with  Sparta,  398 

Marathon,  battle  of,  239-243 

492 


Mardonius,  237-238,  248,  249,  254, 
264,  267,  268,  269,  270,  271,  272  n. 
Margites,  158 
Marsyas,  statue,  xix,   xx,   304,   307, 

309 

Masistes,  254 

Masistius,  270,  272  n. 

Massagetae,  187 

Massalia,  122 

Mausoleum  of  Halicarnassus,  420,  443 

Mausolus,  420,  422,  427 

Medea  of  Buripides,  362,  363  n. 

Media,  kings  of,  in  eighth  to  sixth 
century,  150 

Megabates,  236 

Megabazus,  191,  235,  424 

Megacles,  archon,  136 

Megacles,  subject  of  Pindar's  ode, 
xviii,  280 

Megalopolis,  396,  453 

Megara,  116,  118  ;  under  tyrannies, 
1 31-132  ;  Theognis  and,  195- 
196;  Treasure-house  of ,  at  Delphi, 
214  n.  ',  Athenian  protectorate 
over,  293  ;  revolts  against  Athens, 
294 ;  Athens  surrenders  claims 
upon,  294  ;  in  Peloponnesian  War, 
328,  336 

Megara,  Hyblaean,  118 

Megistias,  261  n. 

'  Meidias  '  vase,  xx 

Melesias,  295 

Melos,  338-339,  448 

Memphis,  captured  by  Greeks,  293 

Mena,  24 

Mernmadae,  147 

Messene,  125  n.,  396 

Messenian  wars,  124-126 

Messenians,  siege  on  Mount  Ithome, 
292  ;  in  Peloponnesian  War,  335, 
336  ;  expelled  from  Naupactus, 
392  ;  return  of,  396 

Metalwork,  Mycenaean,  16 ;  Etruscan, 
473  n. 

Metapontion,  122,  210 

Methone,  427 

Metiochus,  242 

Micciades,  224 

Micon,  xvii 

Midas,  147  ;   Gardens  of,  424 

Miletus,  202,  237,  296 

Milo,  210 

Miltiades,  the  elder,  174 

Miltiades,  the  younger,  xvii,  174, 
191,  289,  307  ;  at  Marathon,  240, 
242  ;  death  of,  244  ;  and  Lemnos, 
242,  300 


INDEX 


Mimnermus,  i6o 

Minoa,  24 

Minoan     civilization  —  see     Cretan 

civilization,  &c. 
Minos  the  Cretan,  2,  18,  23,  24,  25 
Minos,  son  of  Zeus,  23,  56 
Minos,  the  Throne  of,  19 
Minotaur  myth,  22,  23 
Mnesicles,  301 
'  Mourners,  the,'  445 
Munychia,  297 
Mycale,  battle  of,  272-273 
Mycale,  Mount,  79 
Mycenae,     excavations     at,     9-12  ; 

decline,  and  destruction,  9-10,  27  ; 

tombs  at,  10-12  ;  intercourse  with 

Egypt,  26-27 
Mycenaean   pottery,     7,    471,    472, 

473  ;  dress,  12,  14-15 
Myrcinus,  235 

Myron,  xix,  xx,  226,  304,  309,  382 
Mysians,  Aryan  origin  of,  7 
My  son,  133 
'  Mythical'  age,  i,  2 
Mytilene,  128,  332,  333,  334 
Myus,  291 

Nabonid,  1 86 

Naucraries,  88 

Naucratis,  143 

Naupactus,  75,  292,  392 

Naxos,  118,  288 

Neapolis,  405 

Nebucadkezar,  144 

Necho,  143-144,  451 

Nemean  Games,  156 

Neoptolemus,  433 

Nereid  Monument,  385 

Nericon,  130 

Nesiotes,  230 

Nicandra,  xv 

Nicias,  334,  336,  338,  340,  341,  342 

Nicias,  Peace  of,  326,  338,  367 

Nicomedes,  417 

Nike  of  Paeonius,  309,  336-337,  448 

Nike  of  Samothrace,  448 

Nike,  the  first  statue  of,  223-224 

Niobe  group,  445-446 

Nisaea,  293,  336,  337 

Odeion,  300,  301 ;  of  Herodes, 
xxiv,  301 

Odyssey,  authenticity,  61-62  ;  con- 
fusion in,  61  ;  B^rard's  theory, 
61  n.  ',  Nausicaa's  alleged  author- 
ship of,  64     portrays  the  Achaean 


world,  64-65 ;  religion  in,  65 ; 
funeral  ceremonies  in,  66 

Oedipus,  33 

Oedipus  of  Aeschylus,  314 

Oedipus  at  Colonus  of  Sophocles,  360 

Oedipus  Tyrannus  of  Sophocles,  360 

Olympia,  temple  of  Zeus  at,  308,  309, 
456  . 

Olympiads,  commencement  of,  153  w. 

Olympias,  433,  434 

Olympic  Games,  and  Greek  chrono- 
logy, 123  ;  foundation  and  de- 
velopment, 153-155 ;  abolition, 
155  ;    Alexander  I  at,  423,  424 

Olympieion,  Acragas,  120,  217,  450, 

451 
Olympieion,  Athens,  xxiv,  216,  456 
Olynthus,  268,  426,  428 
Onatas,  221,  232,  417 
Onomacritus,  66  «.,  248 
Onomarchus,  427,  429 
Oresieia  of  Aeschylus,  293,  311,  317 
Orestes,   and   AeoUc  migration,   76 ; 

and  the  Areopagus,  134 
Ormuzd,  185 

Orphic  teachings,  value  of,  282 
Ortygia,  341  and  n.,  405 
Ostracism,  181 


Paches,  333,  334 

Paeonius,  308,  337 

Paestum  (Poseidonia),  founded,  121  ; 

temples  at,  215,  216  n.,  454 
Pagasae,  77 
Painting,  421 
Palermo,  275,  476  n. 
Palladium,  at  Troy,  221 
Pamphyli,  and  Pamphylia,  82 
Panathenaic  festival,  175,  305,  476 
Panegyric  of  Isocrates,  394,  437-438 
Panormus,  275 

Paralus,  son  of  Pericles,  331  w. 
Parmenides,  208,  321,  322 
Parmenio,  433 
Paros,  244,  419 
Parrhasius,  421 
Partheniae,  122 
Parthenon,  215  and  n.,  216  n.,  217, 

297»     300.     302-307,     454 ;      the 

metopes,  304  ;  the  frieze,  304-305  ; 

the  pediments,  305-307 
Parysatis,  389,  392 
Pasargadae,  193 
Pausanias,  king,  344,  345,  388 
Pausanias,  regent,  244,  269,  284-285, 

290 


493 


INDEX 


Peace  of  Antalcidas,  389,  393,  437 

Peace  of  Callias,  394 

Peace  of  Philocrates,  430 

Peace  of  Aristophanes,  367 

Peiraeus,  289,  295,  297,  298 

Peisander,  392 

Peisistratus,  142,  424,  455,  456  ;   the 

tyranny  of,  173-176 
Pelasgians,  29-31 
Pelasgic  language,  37 
Pelasgion,  31 
Pella,  320,  424  n.,  429 
Pelopidae,  8,  75 
Pelopidas,  394,  395,  397.  422 
Peloponnesian  War,  326-345 
Pelops,    and    the    Olympic   Games, 

153 
Pentelic  marble,  303 
Penthelids,  128 
Perdiccas  I,  424  ;   II,  337,  424  ;   III, 

424.  425 

Pergamon,  altar  of  Zeus  at,  419, 
447  ;  and  sculpture,  446,  447 

Periander,  129,  1 30-131,  133,  449 

Fericles,  xviii,  xxi,  292,  293,  294, 
295,  296,  297,  298,  300,  301,  302, 
308,  325,  326,  329,  330,  331,  346, 
347.  436 

Pericles  the  younger,  331  w. 

Perinthus,  431 

Perioeci,  90 

Peripatetics,  443 

Perpherees,  192 

Persae  of  Aeschylus,  195,  314 

Perseid  dynasty,  75 

Persepolis,  193-194 

Persia,  rise  of,  1 81-189 ;  under 
Darius,  189 ;  invades  Scythia, 
189-192 ;  invades  Greece,  237- 
273 ;  takes  Athens,  264,  269 ; 
defeat  on  the  Eurymedon,  288  ; 
truce  with  Athens,  294  ;  in  Pelo- 
ponnesian War,  342,  343  ;  defeats 
Sparta,  and  helps  Athens,  392- 
393 ;  and  Peace  of  Antalcidas, 
393  ;   favours  Thebes,  397 

Persians,  ancient  religion  of,  184- 
185  ;  character,  185-186 ;  as 
iconoclasts,  229 

Persians  of  Aeschylus,  310  «, 

Petrie,  Dr.  Flinders,  and  art-periods, 
17  ». 

Phaedo,  378 

Phaedo  of  Plato,  377 

Phaedrus  of  Plato,  211 

Phaenarete,  mother  of  Socrates,  379 

Phalanthus,  122 

494 


Phalanx,  of  Thebans  at  Delion,  337  ; 
of  Epameinondas,  395  ;  Mace- 
donian, 425  ;   the  old,  425 

Phalaris,  120,  274 

Phaleron,  297 

'  Phaleron  '  ware,  xiv,  473 

Phaon,  168 

Phamabazus,  343  n.,  391,  392 

Phayllus,  429 

Pheidias,  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  226,  298, 
302,  304,  305,  306,  307-309,  331, 
383,  385,  417.  418,  447,  456 

Pheidon,  and  the  Olympic  Games,  124 

Pherenikus,  280 

Phigaleia,  temple  of  Apollo  at,  216, 
217,300,453 

Philip  II  of  Macedon,  397,  422,  424, 
425,  426,  427  ;  and  Demosthenes, 
428,  429,  430,  431,  432  ;  and  Athens, 
429-430  ;  aggressive  movements, 
430-431  ;  Isocrates  and,  430,  439  ; 
and  Chaeroneia,  431-432  ;  invades 
Asia,  433  ;  and  Olympias,  433 ; 
assassination,  434  ;  and  Stageiros, 
443  ;  coinage  of,  463 

Philippeion,  443 

Philippi,  425,  426 

Philistines,  26  n. 

Philocrates,  429  and  n.  ;  Peace  of, 
430 

Philoctetes  of  Sophocles,  360-361 

Philolaus,  210 

Philomelus,  427,  429 

Philosophy,  Ionic  school,  201  ;  ^le- 
atic  school,  201,  207,  321,  322 ; 
Pythagorean,  201,  21 1-2 14  ;  Greek, 
how  far  indebted  to  Oriental 
philosophy,  203-204 ;  Platonic, 
207,  409-412  ;  of  Socrates,  208, 
322,  409-410  ;  of  the  Sophists,  322, 
369,  370-371 ;  of  Empedocles,  323- 
324  ;  of  Anaxagoras,  324-325  ;  of 
Democritus,  369-370  ;  Academic 
school,  442  ;  Megaric  (Dialectic) 
school,  442  ;  Cyrenaic  school,  442 ; 
Cynic  school,  443  ;  Stoicism,  443  ; 
of    Aristotle    (Peripatetic    school), 

443 

Phocaeans,  found  Massalia,  122 ;  colo- 
nize Corsica,  123 ;  found  Blea, 
123 

Phocion,  426,  428,  429  w.,  431,  434, 

436-437.  438 
Phocis,    conflict   with   Thebes,    427, 
429  ;  Athens  and,  429 ;  ravaged  by 
Philip  II,  429 ;  Amphictionic  Coun- 
cil and,  430,  431 


INDEX 


Phoenician  script,  41 

Phoenicians,  visit  Spain,  61  «.,  108  ; 
and  Africa,  61  n. ;  in  the  Dark  Age, 
108-110;  colonies  and  trade,  108- 
iio ;  origin  of  the  name,  108  ;  found 
Carthage,  109  ;  introduce  alphabet 
into  Greece,  41,  109  ;  as  craftsmen, 
109 ;  as  pictured  in  Odyssey,  109 

Phoenissae  of  Euripides,  364 

Phoenissae  of  Phrynichus,  195 

Phrygia,  147 

Phryne,  417,  418 

Phrynichus,  195,  310 

Phthiotis,  34,  35 

Phyle,  345 

Pillar,  religious  S5nnbol,  50 

Pindar,  199,  200,  278-282,  435 ; 
quality  of  his  poetry,  281 

Pittacus,  128,  133 

*TTaf35av^5ameof,  269-272,  273,  311, 
424  ;    in  Peloponnesian  War,  329, 

332-333 

Plato,  xxi  ;  on  fables,  2  ;  version  of 
'  Return  of  Heracleidae,'  75  ;  and 
the  Spartan  social  constitution, 
93  ;  and  Pythagorean  philosophy, 
211  ;  on  Parmenides,  321  ;  and 
Anaxagoras,  325  ;  on  Pericles, 
331  ;  on  Aristophanes,  365,  367  ; 
and  the  Clouds  of  Aristophanes, 
367  ;  and  Democritus,  369  ;  on  the 
Sophists,  371-373  ;  and  Dionysius 
of  Syracuse,  406  ;  second  and  third 
visits  to  Syracuse,  406  ;  life,  408  ; 
philosophy,  409-412  ;  on  ideal 
Beauty,  410  ;  doctrine  of  Remini- 
scence, 410 ;  doctrine  of  Ideas, 
410-41 1  ;  Ideal  theory,  412  ;  ex- 
tracts from  his  Dialogues,  412-416 ; 
and  Socrates,  442 

Pleistarchus,  244 

Plemmyrion,  341  and  n. 

Plutarch,  on  Pericles,  331 

Plutus  of  Aristophanes,  368 

Polybius,  454 

Polycleitus,  226,  384-385,  444 

Polycrates,  187,  454 

Polygnotus,  xvii,  243,  301,  383,  421 

Polyzalus.  231,  277 

Poseidon,  and  tutelage  of  Athens,  32  ; 
temple  of,  at  Poseidonia,  454  ; 
and  temple  on  Sunion,  457 

Poseidonia  (Paestum),  121  ;  temples 
at,  215,  216  n.,  454 

Potidaea,  268 ;  in  Peloponnesian 
War,  328,  332  ;  Socrates  at,  375  ; 
captured  by  Philip  II,  426 


Potter's  wheel,  introduction  of,  472  n. 

Pottery,  *  Cnossus Palace  'style,  xiii; 
primitive  black,  6,  471 ;  '  Myce- 
naean,' 7,  471,  472,  473  ;  at  Cnossus, 
19  ;  Cretan,  in  Egypt,  24,  25,  26; 
Cretan,  in  Palestine,  26  «. ;  '  Dipy- 
lon,'  98-101,  473  ;  Early  Minoan, 
472  ;    beginnings  of  wheel  -  made, 

472  ;  Middle  Minoan,  472 ;  Kamdres 
ware,  xiii,  472  ;  I^ate  Minoan,  xiii, 
472 ;  the'  Dark  Age,'  472 ; '  Hissarlik' 
type,  xiii,  472  n.;   '  Phaleron,'  xiv, 

473  '> '  proto-Corinthian, '  473 ; '  Fikel- 
lura,'  473  ;  '  old  Corinthian,'  xiv, 
473  ;  the  classic  age  of,  473  ; '  Etrus- 
can,' 473  ;  commerce  in,  between 
Greece  and  Italy,  473-474  ;  decora- 
tion and  painting  on,  471-476 

Pratinas,  195 

Praxiteles,  416-419,  445,  447 
Prometheus,  the  fable  of,  316 
Prometheus  Bound  of  Aeschylus,  311, 

315 
Propylaea,  300-301 
Protagoras,  370 
Proteus  of  Aeschylus,  317 
Proxenus,  390,  391 
Psammis,  144 
Psamtik  I,  131,  143,  473  n.;  II,  xv, 

144  ;  III,  188 
Psyttaleia,  xviii,  265,  266 
Pteria,  8 

Ptolemy  Alorites,  397,  422,  424 
Pulosathu,  26,  29 
Pydna,  426 
Pylos,  335,  336,  338 
Pythagoras,  xvii,  137,  208-214 
Pythian  Games,  156,  157  ;    Philip  II 

and,  430 
Pytho,  427 


Ramses  II,  xv,  8  ;  III,  26 

Religion,  the  bull  in  Cretan,  20,  23, 
56  ;  the  old,  43-60  ;  crude,  dis- 
appears, 45  ;  in  Homer,  46-47,  57, 
59  ;  the  new,  inspired  by  northern 
invaders,  48  ;  the  first  idols,  49  ; 
an-iconic  ritual,  49-51  ;  trans- 
mutation of  the  gods,  58-59  ;  con- 
nexion with  sculpture,  218-219  ; 
idol- worship,  218-221 

Republic  of  Plato,  375[«. 

Rhegium,  123 

Rhesus  of  Euripides,  362 

Rhodes,  298,  426,  439,  472  ;  Colossus 
of,  444,  446  ;  and  sculpture,  446 


495 


INDEX 


Richter,  Ohnefalsch,  researches  in 
Cyprus,  III 

Sack  of  I  lion,  157 

Sacred  War,  first,  157  ;  second;  427 ; 
third,  427,  429 

Sacred  Way,  at  Delphi,  157 

Sacrifice,  human,  in  Crete,  23 

Sadyattes,  148 

Sages,  the  Seven,  133-134 

Sais,  143 

Salamis,  xviii,  140,  344  ;  battle  of, 
146,  266-267,  311  .*  Aeschylus'  de- 
scription in  the  Persae,  315 

Samos,  187  ;  Heraion  at,  217,  454  ; 
in  Confederacy  of  Delos,  288,  295- 
296  ;  revolt  of,  296  ;  in  Pelopon- 
nesian  War,  343 

Samothrace,  448 

Sappho,  168-171 

Sardis,  147,  183,  236,  294,  343 

Sassanidae,  194 

Satyr  of  Praxiteles,  xxii,  417,  418 

Scaean  Gate,  6 

Scamander,  251 

Schliemann,  Dr.,  excavations  at  site 
of  ancient  Troy,  5-9  ;  at  Mycenae, 
9-12 

Schliemann,  Mrs.,  excavations  at 
Mycenae,  11  n. 

Schwerzek,  reconstruction  of  pedi- 
ments of  Parthenon,  xix,  306 

Scione,  338 

Scironian  Way,  264 

Scopas,  416,  419-421,  443 

Script,  Cretan  or  Minoan,  38-39  ; 
lyycian,  40  ;  Hittite,  40  ;  Phoeni- 
cian, 41 

Sculpture,  connexion  with  religion, 
218-219,  446 ;  origins  of  Greek, 
219-220 ;  development  of,  222- 
226  ;  the  Peloponnesian  '  athletic^ 
school,  225-226 ;  colour  in,  232, 
303  ;  Aeginetan  school,  232  ;  in- 
fluence of  Athenian  style,  382- 
386  ;  portraiture  in,  383,  446  ;  the 
'  Canon  '  of  Polycleitus,  384  ;  in 
the  fourth  century,  416;  Hellen- 
istic school,  446-448 ;  tendency  to 
personification  and  to  the  colossal, 
446 

Scyllias,  259 

Scyllis,  223 

Scyros,  287,  311 

Scythia,  invasion  by  Darius,  189-191 

Scythians,  143,  148 

Seals,  Cretan,  51,  53 


496 


Selesta,  120;  temple  at,  215,  453; 
in  Peloponnesian  War,  340;  appeals 
to  Carthage,  404,  453 

Seisachtheia,  140 

Selinus,  xvii,  118,  120  ;  temples  at, 
118,  120,  450-451  ;  early  sculpture 
at,  226-227  ;  Empedocles  and  the 
pestilence  at,  323  ;  and  Segesta, 
340,  404,  453 

Semnai,  134 

Semonides,  or  Simonides,  165 

Sestos,  273,  285  n. 

Seti,  144 

Seven  against  Thebes,  33 

Seven  against  Thebes  of  Aeschylus,  314 

Shepherd  Kings,  13,  25 

Sheshenk  (orShishak),  112 

Shield  of  Achilles,  70-71 

Shields,  Mycenaean,  12-13  I  Homeric, 

Sicily,  colonization  of,  118,  120; 
Carthaginians  in,  274-276  ;  racial 
conflict  in,  274  n.  ;  Athenian  ex- 
peditions to,  326,  339-342  ;  and 
the  drama,  365  ;  coinage  of,  463  ; 
early  pottery  in,  472 

Sicinnus,  268 

Sicyon,  under  tyrannies,  132  ;  and 
sculpture,  225,  444 

Silphion,  146 

Simmias,  378 

Simonides  of  Ceos,  199-200,  261  n., 
279.  3" 

Sipylus,  Mount,  '  Niobe  '  image  at, 
221  «. 

Siris,  122 

Smerdis,  188 

Smilis,  222  n.,  232 

Smyrna,  76,  149 

'  Social  War,*  426-427 

Socrates,  xxi,  308,  321,  322,  325, 
^  I  332  n.,  337,  345  n.,  370  and  n.  ; 
on  the  Sophists,  371-373 ;  life, 
373-378 ;  intellectual  methods, 
378-379  ;  his  dialectic,  379-380  ; 
object  of  his  philosophy,  380- 
382  ;  his  definition  of  true  philo- 
sophy, 381  ;  on  ideal  Beauty,  410; 
and  Isocrates,  437  ;  Plato  and,  442 

Solon,  133,  139-142  ;  as  poet,  160- 
163;  and  Peisistratus,  173 ;  and 
Croesus,  183 

Sophists,  322  ;  Socrates  on,  370-373 

Sophocles,  xxi,  12  n.,  317  n.,  356, 
357 ;  in  Samian  war,  296 ;  and 
development  of  Attic  drama,  310  ; 
and  Aeschylus,  311,  358;    extent 


INDEX 


of  bis  work,  311  n. ;  and  Sicilian 
expedition,  340;  life,  358;  work, 
358-361;  compared  with  Aeschylus, 
361 

Sparta,  founded  by  Dorians,  82,  89  ; 
social  system,  90,  93-94  ;  form  of 
rule,  91,  92  ;  constitution,  91-93  ; 
Taras  founded  by,  122  ;  and  the 
Messenian  wars,  124-126 ;  inter- 
venes in  Athenian  affairs,  177,  178  ; 
and  Marathon,  240,  241  ;  and 
Plataea,  269,  271,  272  ;  and  the 
revolt  of  Thasos,  288  ;  revolt  of 
Messenians,  292 ;  breaks  with 
Athens,  293  ;  re-establishes  Boeo- 
tian league,  294  ;  routs  Athens  at 
Tanagra,  294  ;  truce  with  Athens, 
294  ;  in  Peloponnesian  War,  326- 
345  ;  her  supremacy,  388-395  ; 
and  the  rise  of  Thebes  into  power, 
395-399  ;  and  second  Sacred  War, 
427 ;  and  third  Sacred  War,  427, 
429  ;   Philip  II  and,  432 

Spartans,  '  discipline  '  of,  94  ;  educa- 
tion, 94-95  ;  brevity  in  speech, 
95  ;  and  nudity,  95  ;  lack  of  art 
instinct,  96  ;  and  music,  96-97  ; 
dislike  of  fortifications,  271  ; 
character,  contrasted  with  that 
of  Athenians,  285-286 

Spartiatae,  90 

Sphacteria,  332,  335-33^ 

Sphinx  of  Aeschylus,  314 

Spintheros,  450 

Stadion,  154 

Stageiros,  337,  443 

Stelae,  385-386 

Stenyclarus,  292 

Stesichorus,  166-167 

Stoa  Poikile,  301 

Stoicism,  443 

Stone  Age,  Cretan  civilization  extends 
to,  18 

'  Strangford  '  shield,  xviii,  xxi 

Strategoi,  295 

Strongylion,  383 

Suez  Canal,  antiquity  of,  144 

Sun-god,  statue  by  Lysippus,  444 

Simion,  temples  on,  300,  457 

Suppliants  of  Aeschylus,  313 

Susarion,  365 

Sybaris,  121,  210,  295,  474 

Sybota,  battle  near,  328,  335 

Syracuse,  118,  274-275,  277,  278 ; 
Athenian  expeditions  against, 
339-342  ;  rise  into  power  under 
Dionysius  I,  405  ;    under  Diony- 


sius    II,    406;    under.  Timoleon, 
407-408  ;  taken  by  Romans,  408  ; 
coinage  of,  462 
Syssitia,  92  n.,  94 

Tanagra,  battle  of,  294 

'  Tauten,'  statues,  228-229,  230 

Taras,  122,  124,  474 

Tarshish  (Tartessus),  108,  117 

'  Tataia's  flask,'  42-43,  471 

Tegea,  419 

Tegeans,  at  Salamis,  271 

Teleclus,  90 

Telegoneia,  145,  157 

Temenus,  423 

Temesa  (Tempsa),  122,473  n. 

'  Temple  of  the  Winds,'  216 

Temple,  primitive,  214 ;  develop- 
ment, 215 

Temples,  449-457 

Ten  Ages  of  Solon,  162 

Ten  Thousand,  march  of  the„39i 

Tenians,  at  Salamis,  266 

Teos,  198,  202 

Terillus,  274,  275 

Terina,  122 

Terpander,  96,  97 

Teucer,  iii 

Thai's,  194 

Thales,  133,  149,  201-20^ 

Thaletas,  137 

Thasos,  288 

Theagenes,  131 

Thebans,  at  Thermopylae,  260  ;  at 
Plataea,  2>  i  ;  at  Delion,  337 

Thebes,  foundation  by  Cadmus,  i, 
32-33  ;  in  pre-Dorian  times,  32- 
33  ;  Kpigoni  and,  33  ;  captured  by 
Achaeans,  33  ;  head  of  Boeotian 
league,  294 ;  in  Peloponnesian  War, 
337  ;  joins  league  against  Sparta, 

392  ;  Cadmeia  seized  by  Spartans, 

393  ;  rise  into  power,  394 ;  allied 
with  Athens,  394 ;  and  Peace  of  Cal- 
lias,  394 ;  her  supremacy,  395-398  ; 
decline  after  Mantineia,  398,  422  ; 
conflict  with  Phocis,  427,  429  ; 
joins  Athens  against  Philip  II, 
431  ;  at  Chaeroneia,  431-432  ; 
Phihp's  severity  against,  432  ; 
destroyed  by  Alexander  the  Great, 
435  ;  rebuilt,  436 

Themistocles,  xvii,  xviii,  243,  246- 
247,  258,  263,  264,  265,  268,  287, 
289-291,  312,  329 

Theognis,  133,  195-196 

Theogonia  of  Hesiod,  103, 104, 1 07, 316 

2  1  497 


INDEX 


Theopompus,  125 
Theoric  Fund,  428 
Theramenes,  344,  345 
Thermae,  469 

Thermopylae,  xvii,  200,  257,  427, 
429  ;  the  battle,  259-263 

Thero,  274,  275,  277,  278,  280 

Thersilion,  396 

Theseion,  xviii,  32  n.,  215,  287, 
300,  304,  455-456 

Theseus,  32,  287,  311,  456 

Thesmophoriazusae  of  Aristophanes, 
368 

Thesmothetae,  135 

Thespiae,  418 

Thespis,  175,  309,  366 

Thessalians,  8i  ;  and  Persian  inva- 
sion, 255 

Thessaly,  255,  285  ;  rises  into  power, 
394-395  ;  under  the  Theban  su- 
premacy, 397  ;  in  Hellenic  politics, 
423  ;  occupied  by  Phocis,  427  ; 
occupied  by  Philip  II,  430 

Thimbron,  391 

'  Thirty  Tyrants,'  council,  344,  345 

Thirty  Years'  Peace,  294,  328 

Thrace,  Persia  and,  190,  191  ;  in 
Peloponnesian  War,  337,  338 ; 
Philip  II  and,  425,  428,  431 

Thrasybulus,  Athenian,  345,  388 

Thrasybulus  of  Miletus,  128, 130,  202 

Thrasybulus  of  Syracuse,  278 

Thucydides,  son  of  Melesias,  295, 
301,  302 

Thucydides,  son  of  Olorus,  xxi ; 
his  History,  284,  345-346 ;  and 
Herodotus,  320 ;  and  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian War,  327-335*  337-339 ; 
estimate  of  his  work,  346  ; 
compared  with  Herodotus,  346- 
347  ;  extracts  from  the  History, 
347-355  >  on  Athenian  dress,  461 

Thurii,  210  n.,  295,  298,  320 

Thyrea,  329 

Tigranes,  273 

Timaeus,  historian  of  Sicily,  323 

Timaeus  of  I^ocri,  211 

Timaeus  of  Plato,  211 

Timarchus,  429  n.,  439 

Timoleon,  404,  407,  436 

Timotheus,  Athenian  general,  394, 
397»  426,  427 

Timotheus  of  Miletus,  96 

Tisamenus^  75 

Tissaphernes,  342,  343  n.,  389,  390, 
391,  392 

'  Tomb  of  the  Satrap,'  445  n. 

498 


Tombstones,  385-386 
Trachiniae  of  Sophocles,  359 
Tragedy,  development  of,  as  shown  in 

the  work  of  Aeschylus,  Sophocles, 

and    J^uripides,    355-357 ;     origin 

of,  365 
Tree,  sacred,  51 
Triptolemus  of  Sophocles,  358 
Tnttyes,  Ionian,  88;  Athenian,  180 
Troezen,  336 

Trojan  War,  a  possible  cause  of  the,  77 
Troy,  fall  of,   in.;   excavations  on 

site  of,  X,  5-7 ;  chronology  of  the 

successive  cities,  72-73 
Turusha,  29 
Tuscany,    Greek   pottery   found   in, 

473.  474 
Tutmes,  25 
Tyche,  341  n.,  405 
Tyrannicides,  statue,  230 
Tyrannies,    how    instituted,    86-87 

127  ;  development  of,  87 
'  Tyrannos,'  86-87,  127  w. 
Tyre,  108-109 
Tyrrhenians — see  Tyrseni 
Tyrseni,  29,  117,  147,  277,  474 
Tyrtaeus,  126,  159-160 

Vaphio  cups,  16-18,  21 
Varvakeion,  Athens,  statuette  found 

near,  xx 
Vase-painting,  early,  471-472  ;  '  Dark 

Age  '  of,  472  ;    classic  age  of,  473, 

474-476 ;  '  new  and  beautiful  style,* 

476  ;  decline,  476 
Venus  Brycina,  120 
Venus  Victrix,  420 
'  Victory  '  of  Paeonius,  336-337 
Vulci,  X,  xvi,  xxiv,  473 

'  Warrior  Vase,'  xi,  13,  21 

Wasps  of  Aristophanes,  367 

Woh's  Prolegomena  and  the  '  Homeric 
age,'  62 

Women  in  Parliament  of  Aristophanes, 
368 

Writing,  not  known  in  '  prehistoric  ' 
Greece,  38  ;  known  in  early  Crete, 
38 ;  earliest  mention  in  Greek  litera- 
ture, 40  ;  I^ycian,  40  ;  introduction 
into  Greece,  41-42 

Xanthippus,  father  of  Pericles,  xviii, 
247,  289 

Xanthippus,  son  of  Pericles,  331  «. 

Xenophanes,  123,  196-197  ;  philo- 
sophy of,  207-208,  321,  323,  324 


INDEX 


Xenophon,  375,  378  ;  and  the  Ten 
Thousand,  391  ;  life  and  workvS, 
399-400  ;  extracts  from  the  Ana- 
basis, 400-403 

Xerxes,  Hall  of,  194  ;  birth  of,  248  ; 
succeeds  his  father,  248  ;  invades 
Greece,  249-273  ;  and  Thermopy- 
lae, 261-262  ;  and  Salamis,  266- 
267  ;  Pausanias  and,  285  ;  death 
of,  290  ;  and  the  Branchidae,  452  ; 
and  temple  of  Artemis,  Bphesus, 
452 

Zai^eucus,  127 
Zancle,  118 
Zea,  297 


Zeno  of  Cyprus,  443 

Zeno,  Kleatic  philosopher,  208,  321, 
322 

Zethus,  32 

Zeugites,  135 

Zeus,  northern  origin,  54,  58 ; 
birthplace  of,  55  ;  tomb  of,  55  ; 
identified  with  Bull-god,  56 ; 
the  Homeric,  69  ;  temple  of,  at 
Olympia,  215  and  n.,  308,  456  ; 
statue  of,  by  Pheidias,  at  Olym- 
pia, 230,  307-308,  456 ;  statue 
of,  by  £ysippus,  444 

Zeus  Cretagenes,  xii,  23,  54,  55 

Zeus  Lykaios,  92 

Zeuxis,  421,  424,  451,  454 


(>>^ 


\TTT 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


wovis 


\a6l  hi^^^U  1983 


RLCEilvED 


13'67-W 


REC  CIR  AUG  9   '83 


m 


LOAN  PC»'T 


fV^ 


1^ 


^ 


REC'D  L.O  QErrfWTPf 


Relumed  by 


NOV     6  1973 


Santa  Cruz  Mtj^^  „ 


73 -3  PM 


LD21A-60wi-2.'67 

CTT'->  1 1  el  n^  i-R-R 


General  Library 
University  of  California 

Berkelev 


,M, 


\  '    <• 


